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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





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JUDGE LONGSTREET, 



A LIFE SKETCH. 



BY BISHOP O. P. FITZGERALD, 

Of the At. E. Church, South. 



"£p# y0F 

"AUG 15 18 



Printed for the Author. 

Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

Barbee & Smith, Agents, Nashville, Tenn. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S91, 

By O. P. Fitzgerald, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TO THE READER. 

When, at the request of the surviving members 
of the immediate family of the late Judge A. B. 
Longstreet, I consented to undertake the prepara- 
tion of a memoir of that rare and fascinating ge- 
nius, I did not know whether I would make of it a 
monograph or a volume. Accessible material was 
scant. His contemporaries were nearly all dead. 
Here and there were persons still laughing over 
his " Georgia Scenes," but the man Was fast be- 
coming a tradition. I began the work with the 
purpose to let it take its own shape, using the ma- 
terial that came into my hands as Aaron used the 
golden earrings of the Israelites cast by him into 
the furnace. The outcome is not a golden calf, 
but this book. 

To the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, of the United 
States Supreme Court ; Chancellor Edward Mayes, 
of the University of Mississippi; the Rev. Walter 
R. Branham, the Rev. Dr. Weyman H. Potter, the 
Rev. John W. Burke, Hon. Walter B. Hill, and the 
Rev. Dr. J. T. Wightman I hereby tender sincere 
thanks for the help they have given me. And to 
the house of Harper & Brothers, New York, the 
original publishers of the " Georgia Scenes," I 
would also express my thanks for special courte- 
sies gracefully rendered. 

I might justly make a plea for indulgent criti- 
cism because of unexpected difficulties in the per- 

(3) 



4 TO THE READER. 

formance of this labor of love, but the reader cares 
nothing for these things. I feel sure that one part 
of the book — the "Appendix" — will be cordially 
received both by older readers of the '* Georgia 
Scenes" and the younger generation, many of 
whom will for the first time get from these pages 
a taste of their rich humor. 

O. P. Fitzgerald . 

Nashville, June, 1891. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Started in the World 9 

The Boy 14 

At School in South Carolina 21 

In New England 26 

The Bench, the Bar, and the Hustings „ 32 

The Unwritten Chapter 41 

A Change of Heart 50 

LONGSTREET THE PREACHER 57 

As an Educator 70 

longstreet the humorist 88 

Rumblings of the Coming Storm 95 

A Tilt with Dr. Winans 109 

The Bursting of the Storm 128 

A Touch of Polemics 136 

Judge Longstreet's Writings „ 164 

Traits 169 

Added Touches 182 

The End 190 



Some Old Letters 193 

Note 208 



APPENDIX. 
GEORGIA SCENES, NEW AND OLD. 

Darby Anvil 211 

Ned Brace 242 

The Debating Society 270 

The Song 2S5 

The Shooting-match 296 

(5) 



*•#« 



"/ have observed in several of my papers that my friend, 
Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of 
an humorist ; and that his virtues, as -well as imperfections, 
are as it ivere tinged by a certain extravagance, -which makes 
them particular/y his, and distinguishes them from those of 
other men. The cast of his mind, as it is generally very 
innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation highly 
agreeable, and more delightful than the same degree of sense 
and virtue would appear in their common and ordinary 
colors^ — The Spectator. 

(7) 



JUDGE LONGSTREET. 



STARTED IN THE WORLD. 



The boy whose life is sketched in these pages 
weighed seventeen pounds the day he was 
born, September 22, 1790. That was making a 
good start in the world, and a good start is more 
likely to make a good ending than a bad one. The 
popular saying to the contrary applies rather to the 
exceptions than the rule. Free-will, rightly used 
under God, may redeem a life that seems hopeless 
at the start; misused, it may lose the prize that 
seems to be sure. Heredity is a mighty factor in 
human life, but it bends to that higher law by 
which a shining upward path opens to the right 
exercise of volition in every moral agent. There 
is hope for the lowliest, and there is danger for 
the highest. 

Quality, not size only, measures force. Back 
of bone and tissue there is something else. The 
most potent factors in working out the issues of 
life are not visible to the phrenologist or chemist. 
The facts of human existence admit of no rational 
explanation contrary to the declaration of the de- 
vout Arabian who four thousand years ago wrote 
the words: " There is a spirit in man, and the in- 
spiration of the Almighty giveth understanding." 

(9) 



I O JUDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

The weight and stature of men depend upon en- 
vironment as well as pedigree. On the sandy soil 
of the lowlands men do not grow as tall as on the 
red hills of the up-country. The hill country of 
Georgia has been prolific of great men. The ex- 
planation may be found in their open-air life, the 
plentifulness and richness of the fruits of the earth, 
the free intercourse between the different classes 
of the people in a rural and patriarchal society, 
and the abundant leisure enjoyed by a generation 
that were fortunate enough to have lived before 
the age of cheap printing had done so much to 
make cheap men. The books they read were by 
the great masters in philosophy, polite literature, 
and political economy. They had a way of sub- 
jecting all current questions of public policy to the 
test of certain great fundamental principles rather 
than to the demands of an expediency that looks 
only to transient success. They were broad and 
liberal. Among them were men whose eloquence, 
though polished by classical culture, exhibited the 
untamed freedom of their class and their time, and 
glowed with the passion that kindled so quickly 
within their fiery spirits. These men gained dis- 
tinction on every battle-field on which American 
valor has achieved renown, and won recognition 
in every contest in which American intellect has 
wrestled for the prizes of civic or professional suc- 
cess. 

Longstreet is an old Dutch name, but has an 
honest old English sound. The Langestraats first 
came to America about 1657. When they first 
came into notice in New Jersey, they were known 



STARTED IN THE WORLD. n 

as ingenious, energetic, reputable people. The 
mother of the subject of this sketch was a de- 
scendant of Edmond Fitz-Randolph. She had 
blue Norman blood in her veins, and could trace 
her New England pedigree back to 1607. These 
two life-streams — the sturdy Dutch and the viva- 
cious, high-spirited Norman — mingled in the blood 
of the boy. A many-sided man — strong and brill- 
iant, courageous and courtly, humorous and de- 
vout — was the product. 

Of William Longstreet, the father, it is said that 
he anticipated Fulton in the use of steam as a mo- 
tor. The inquisitive mind of the son, that led him, 
as far as possible, to intermeddle with all knowl- 
edge, was a legitimate paternal inheritance. 

Of the mother, our knowledge is meager. Like 
that other Hannah, whose ante-natal prayer found 
gracious answer in the career of the illustrious son 
God gave her, when the final record is read it 
will doubtless be found that from Hannah Long- 
street the boy received his richest inheritance of 
physical and moral tendency and capability. The 
rule is that great men have great mothers. When 
a family flowers into greatness on the male side, 
nature usually takes a rest, except in cases in which 
a specially grand motherhood infuses an element 
of fresh vigor into the line. 

Transplanted to Georgia soil, the family was 
quickly naturalized, becoming Georgians among 
Georgians, and producing in the subject of these 
chapters perhaps the most typical Georgian that 
ever made a speech, preached a sermon, told an 
anecdote, or waged a controversial warfare. 



12 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" Longstreet, the Typical Georgian," was thought 
of as the proper title for this sketch. He was a 
Georgian all over, all through, and all the time. 
He was the father of its humorists, a peculiar kind, 
unlike any other. He impressed his political opin- 
ions upon the youth who were destined to shape 
the future policy of the State. He was one, and 
not the least, of a class of great preachers whose 
genius and piety have left upon its people an im- 
press as lasting as eternity. He was an educator 
who, bursting traditionary fetters, did much to- 
ward the emancipation of learning from false 
methods and aims. He was a gentleman so pure 
and so true in every human relation, and so true to 
God, that patriotism and religion might well point 
to him as a model as long as tradition and the 
printed page shall keep his name alive among 
men. 

The typical Georgian ! No one will dispute his 
title. He was typical of what was truest, highest, 
best in his people. If, while he typed their virtues, 
he was in any degree tinged with their failings, we 
need not be surprised at the fact; but unless he 
had by some magic spell charmed the wide circle 
of his friends into uncritical admiration, and be- 
witched such enemies as he had into a strange si- 
lence, it will be hard to find in all history a man so 
positive in his convictions, so resolute in purpose, 
so outspoken in expression, and so commanding 
in influence, whose life could challenge a closer 
scrutiny by his contemporaries, or have less to fear 
from the siftings of after times when the false lights 
have died out and every man who has gained the 



STARTED IN THE WORLD. 13 

notice of mankind stands revealed in his true col- 
ors and real proportions. 

Longstreet's life was spent in civic service, and 
it is, therefore, not strange that men far inferior to 
him in the brilliancy of his genius and the value of 
his labors should have obtained a wider popular 
recognition. His character and career were sym- 
metrical, and it is not strange that the eccentrici- 
ties of smaller men gave them greater transient 
notoriety. The hero of a duel or a hustings bully 
may be a greater man in his day than the bene- 
factor of a nation. To a child's eye a lightning- 
bug outshines the brightest fixed star. There is no 
little childishness in every generation of grown-up 
people. The lightning-bug never sees a second 
summer; the star shines on forever. 



THE BOY. 



A tree must make wood before it can bear fruit. 
A healthy boy's chief business is to eat and 
grow. Whatever hinders this process is fool- 
ish and murderous. Whoso overtaxes a youthful 
mind is guilty of a gross stupidity or a terrible 
crime. Young Longstreet was neither happy nor 
successful as a student in the old Richmond Acad- 
emy at Augusta. The reason is not wholly clear. 
Only his version of the case is known to us — a 
truthful version, doubtless, but still one-sided and 
partial. "I was," said he, "considered by my 
preceptors a dunce in several of my academic 
studies, and treated accordingly." What that 
means cannot exactly be known now, but it left a 
bitter memory in the heart of the bright, ingenuous 
boy. That was the day of brutalities in schools 
unknown to this generation. One of these bru- 
talities was the dunce-block. With a burlesque 
paper crown upon his head, a boy was perched 
upon a stool or bench and made to stand there for 
hours at a time, if of a sensitive nature, suffering 
the agonies of unspeakable shame at being branded 
as a fool; or if naturally callous or hardened by 
rough usage, standing there sullen and revengeful, 
nursing righteous wrath and getting gnarls and 
twists in his moral fiber that would deform the 
whole of his after life ; or worse still when a deli- 
(14) 



THE BOX. 15 

cate, sensitive little girl was thus pilloried, every 
nerve in her frame quivering with the torture of 
shame, dazed, discouraged, morally murdered. 
These barbarisms are now impossible. Further 
insight into his hapless case is thus given : "I could 
not teach myself these studies without the help of 
my teachers so-called, and I could not help myself 
because I did not understand the language in which 
the book-rules were given, and of course could not 
understand the rules themselves." Poor boy! 
His case typed a system, and explains the cause of 
innumerable stunted growths among the victims of 
a class of the old-time school-masters, whose like it 
is to be hoped will never be seen again on earth. 

A joyful season of freedom came to the young- 
ster. His father removed with his family to Edge- 
field District, South Carolina. Here, to use his 
own language, the boy " spent two or three happy 
years." He was too happy to measure time, and 
a year more or less counts for little in the bright 
calendar of boyhood. He was a genuine boy, not 
one of your mannish, unbearable, premature little 
prigs who is loud and pert and all-knowing; nor 
one of your weakly, goody, morbid little saints who 
happily die early if with better health and improved 
environment they are not born again into true boy- 
hood. That Edgefield episode was a momentous 
one to the young Georgian. He reveled in the 
freedom and largeness of the country. His ideas 
and tastes were those of a boy of the period: his 
highest ambition, he says, " was to outrun, out- 
jump, outshoot, throw down any man in the dis- 
trict." This ingenuous confession throws a flash 



16 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

of illumination over those times, about the begin- 
ning of the present century, when martial fame was 
the passport to popular favor, and virile strength 
and pluck made a hero of a county bully or a crack 
shot in a squirrel hunt or the winner in a wrestling- 
match. Young Longstreet was not pugnacious or 
aspiring above his fellows; he was a boy among 
boys, and caught the ideas and spirit of his time. 

Those boyish years in Edgefield imparted other 
influences which he never lost. He was then and 
there inoculated, unconsciously, with the spirit of 
South Carolina politics, though too young to com- 
prehend its formulas. The Edgefield people were 
then, as now, high-spirited, tenacious in their grasp 
of the notions once adopted by them, ready to 
stake every thing upon a conviction. They were 
South Carolinians of the straitest sect, a people 
that may not always have been prudent or wise, 
but who have left examples of devotion to princi- 
ple under the obloquy visited upon minorities in 
stormy times and in the shadow of defeat that will 
receive the recognition of magnanimous foes and 
thrill the hearts of the heroic and truth-loving while 
time shall last. Impracticable, too sensitive, too 
much given to abstractions, too uncompromising, 
were they ? Grant it, but do not forget that if these 
are the peculiarities of men who often fail in prac- 
tical politics, they may be associated with the virt- 
ues that make a State illustrious. Men of this sort 
sow in tears in one generation the seeds of polit- 
ical truth and virtue which will be reaped in joy by 
another. The spell of Calhoun's genius was al- 
ready felt by the people of South Carolina; and 



THE BOT. iy 

the romping, laughing, responsive boy doubtless 
received from him at this time a magnetic touch 
which he never lost. 

After these two brief but blissful years in Edge- 
field, he was ordered back to what he called his 
"hated penitentiary" — the Richmond Academy. 
His teachers and text-books were the same, and his 
heart sunk within him. He felt more like a con- 
vict put to working a tread-mill than a student fol- 
lowing a competent guide in the paths of knowl- 
edge. But at this time an incident occurred which 
changed his whole life. He met George McDuffie, 
that rare genius, the incarnation of fiery eloquence 
and burning patriotism who flamed athwart the 
heavens of high political debate in the stormy night 
of the great sectional conflict. " While undergo- 
ing the discipline of the Richmond Academy," 
says Longstreet, "chance threw me under the 
same roof, and choice into the same bed with 
George McDuffie." That was a fortunate chance 
and a wise choice for the discouraged young pupil 
of the Richmond Academy. He found what he 
needed — companionship, s} r mpathy, and mental 
stimulus. His new comrade and bedfellow, he 
says, "devoured with greediness every book and 
newspaper that he could lay his hands on. As he 
could read these only at night, and as I could not 
separate myself from him in his leisure hours, as 
he seemed to regard it as a privilege and relish to 
have a boon companion to imbibe knowledge with 
him, and as he seemed to think, and perhaps did 
think, that I was as greedy of "learning as he was, 
he always read aloud. This, to me, was at first 
2 



1 8 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

irksome, then tolerable, then delightful, Thus," 
continues Longstreet, " I acquired my first taste for 
reading, and this was of incalculable benefit to me; 
but I derived a still greater benefit from my con- 
stant intercourse with this bright youth. I observed 
that when we read the same books and papers he 
always knew twice as much of their contents as I 
did. I determined to match him if possible, and I 
commenced reading with care and in a measure 
studying what I read. Thus I learned the only 
kind of reading which is of much value." 

We must read between the lines to understand 
the reciprocal influence of this boy friendship. 
They were both endowed with that wonderful gift 
we call genius. There was an element of rivalry 
in their friendship, a rivalry generous and stimu- 
lating, not envious or in an}' way mean. That they 
had contests of wrestling, running, and jumping 
is almost certain. It would be surprising if they 
did not also have occasional boxing-matches, end- 
ing at times in bloody noses, flushed faces, and a 
little real fighting, such as most boys secretly like. 
Who ever heard of any boy or man whose name 
began with " Mc" who was not ready for a fight 
on occasion? — a fight against sin and Satan if a 
saint, a fight against any opposerif a sinner. Mc- 
Duffie was a volcano slumbering or blazing. In 
young Longstreet, the future jurist, teacher, and 
preacher, was the metal that in his nephew, James 
Longstreet, made the name the synonym of a cour- 
age so invincible, a purpose so steady that no op- 
posing lines ever withstood his direct onset when 
the field was a fair one and the numbers at all 



THE EOT. 19 

equal. On almost a hundred bloody fields he was 
among the bravest of the brave, leading the ragged 
ranks of the boys irt gray in many a desperate 
charge where valor must conquer odds or flee or 
perish. Said the heroic and truthful but ill-fated 
Hood in 1866: " Of all the men living, not except- 
ing our incomparable Lee himself, I would rather 
follow James Longstreet in a forlorn hope or des- 
perate encounter against heavy odds. He was our 
hardest hitter." This was said by 'the man who 
led the Texans at Cold Harbor, and a higher eulo- 
gy was never pronounced by one brave man on an- 
other. Does any reader say that Gen. Longstreet 
blundered after the war was over? Let it be con- 
ceded that he did blunder at that time; but for 
the gray-haired hero whose sun is sinking among 
the Georgia hills there is in the heart of every old 
soldier who fought with him an inextinguishable 
affection, and a secret wish that before the old 
man dies he shall receive full absolution for any 
post bellum blunder, and the assurance that when 
the story of the great conflict shall be calmly and 
impartially written the hero of Sharpsburg shall 
have his place in the picture where the battle thun- 
der was loudest and heroic blood most freely 
flowed. 

A more detailed chapter of the boy life of Long- 
street and McDuffie would be interesting to the 
reader, but no person now living could write it. In 
after days their lives ran in different channels — that 
of Longstreet at a critical juncture taking a provi- 
dential direction unforeseen and unexpected to 
himself; that of McDuffie leading him into politics, 



20 JUDGE LONGSTREET. - 

taking the turn that suited his genius; he was Rep- 
resentative and Senator in Congress, Governor of 
South Carolina, and perhaps the most eloquent as 
he was the most impassioned of all her orators of 
that tempestuous period who rallied around Cal- 
houn in defense of what they believed to be the 
true principles of the Federal Constitution. Mc- 
Duffie was absolutely fearless and uncalculating as 
to personal consequences — qualities that clothed 
him with almost irresistible power when he pleaded 
his cause before the people. His fiery philippics 
against Northern invaders of State rights, as he 
held to them, were magnificent; his denunciation 
of the native-born Southerner who held any affili- 
ation with them coruscated brilliantly with lurid 
rhetoric, and blasted like a thunderbolt where it 
struck. There is nothing left of his printed 
speeches that furnishes any adequate idea of his 
eloquence. He was like a firership, consumed in 
the blaze that lighted it to the battle. 



AT SCHOOL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



After two years, Longstreet left the Richmond 
Academy, no more to return. He was sent to 
the celebrated school of Dr. Moses Waddell, of 
South Carolina. Here he felt the awakening touch 
of true pedagogical genius that makes student life 
a delight. Arithmetic, Latin, and Greek, former- 
ly his stumbling-blocks and detestation, now gave 
him no trouble; " so far from it," said he, "when 
studying the classics under the shade of the beau- 
tiful beeches which grew near the woodland seat of 
science, I actually felt a touch of the inspiration 
with which Virgil opens his deathless song. ' ' Here 
he was fully born into intellectual life, and felt the 
glow and thrill of the conscious power that make^ 
this first experience a joyful memory forever. No 
record of the three years spent under Dr. Wad- 
dell's instruction is accessible, but they were fruit- 
ful years, perhaps the most momentous of all, em- 
bracing the most impressible and formative period 
of his life. His mental development must have 
been rapid and steady during these years, while his 
moral nature strengthened and expanded in the at- 
mosphere of the school of the Christian scholar, 
the fragrance of whose noble and beautiful life 
lingers yet in the circles where he was known, and 
whose influence is as imperishable as the minds 
upon which he wrought as a master-workman. In 

(21) 



22 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

later years Longstreet was selected by the Univer- 
sity of Georgia to pronounce a eulogy in honor of 
his old preceptor, who had found a wider sphere 
and larger fame as an educator. The glow of un- 
dying gratitude and the tenderness of an affection 
that was almost filial characterized this tribute of a 
pupil to his teacher. Lift your hat, gentle reader, 
to the old master who taught you to love books, to 
tell the truth, to honor womanhood, and to bow 
reverently before Almighty God ! We can never 
pay the debt we owe to the teachers who made the 
men who make our history illustrious. But verily 
they shall have their reward. If their statues do 
not find a place in the Pantheon of earthly glory, 
the spirits they have formed will be living stones in 
the temple of God on the bright, eternal hills. 

It was not only growth in stature and book-learn- 
ing that Longstreet gained in South Carolina. His 
political opinions were being formed. In the white 
heat of the great struggle that was going on the 
hearts of such young Southerners as he were fused, 
cooling with reflection and the lapse of time, but 
never to change the mold into which they were then 
cast. Taking sides with the strict constructionists 
and rigid State rights party, he never left them. 
When the battle waxed hot, he was restive until he 
entered the lists. He was public-spirited and intense- 
ly patriotic, and exhibited all the ardor of the school 
of statesmen with whom he affiliated, a worthy co- 
partisan of the serene and majestic Calhoun, the bold 
and fiery McDuffie, the unbending and unblenching 
Troup, and in later days that almost matchless mas- 
ter of assemblies, the elder Colquitt, and the hon- 



AT SCHOOL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 23 

est, manly, lion-hearted McDonald. They were 
opposed for a time by Georgians and Carolinians 
equally patriotic and scarcely less gifted — the mas- 
sive and mighty Toombs, the gifted and noble 
Stephens, the weighty and wise Howell Cobb, of 
Georgia, and Governor Perry and others, of South 
Carolina, who strove by conservative counsel and 
measures of compromise to avert calamities that 
were fated to come. In the heat of that struggle 
the compromisers were denounced as blind leaders 
who could not see that the day of compromises had 
past, or as trimmers who were ready to set their 
sails to catch any transient breeze of popular favor. 
The other party, the party of immediate and un- 
compromising resistance to Federal encroachment, 
were denounced as fire-eaters and disunionists. 
The tide of party passion rose so high that a large 
element of the old Whig party, claiming to be the 
party of the Union above all else, actually followed 
Mr. Calhoun into nullification in opposition to 
President Jackson. Underlying all this party pas- 
sion on both sides was a genuine patriotism ; and 
when the final conflict came, the blood of both was 
poured out freely in defense of the South. Who 
can now say which party was the wiser? It is easy 
enough to say that the attitude of the party of com- 
promise encouraged Federal aggression until it 
reached a point beyond which it could be endured 
no longer. It is, on the other hand, just as easy to 
affirm that the excessive passion and blunders of the 
State rights party fed the fires of Northern fanat- 
icism and furnished pretexts for continued sectional 
agitation and fresh assaults upon the South. There 



24 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

may be truth on both sides, but the policy of nei- 
ther party could have prevented the impending 
cataclysm. The dragon's teeth were sown in the 
Constitution itself. That instrument was a series 
of compromises, adopted under the pressure of one 
paramount necessity, the formation of a more per- 
fect Union. The impossible attempt was made to 
reconcile its irreconcilable elements; the wisest 
blundered and the best were not always consistent. 
When, in the tragic outcome of the long contro- 
versy, Atlanta was blazing and Sherman's march 
through South Carolina was a track of fire, only a 
man of narrow mind or jaundiced spirit could be 
ready to lift an accusing voice against the men, liv- 
ing or dead, who differed so widely in their views 
of current statesmanship, but who were equally 
ready to die for the land they loved. In the name 
of the heroes who did die for it, let the surviv- 
ors see to it that no Southern pen shall write a 
sentence that would dim the luster of any great 
name among the leaders of a time when the gath- 
ering tempest obscured the heavens and the ship of 
State was driven upon the breakers by forces be- 
yond human control. 

The reader will say that this chapter is wander- 
ing far from its caption and starting-point, but the 
three years spent by the young Georgian at school 
in South Carolina had so much to do with his whole 
after career, and so linked him to the men and 
ideas that dominated his life, that the apparent di- 
gression will be pardoned. 

The aspirations of the young student who wished 
to outrun, outjump, and outshoot his fellows took 



AT SCHOOL IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 25 

a higher range. The prizes of literary, profes- 
sional, and political ambition danced before his 
imagination, and lured him onward in the toilsome 
paths of study. " The main difference between 
one man and another," said Dr. Toland, a South 
Carolinian who made so deep a mark as a physi- 
cian in California, " is the bump of approbative- 
ness, which the phrenologists locate on the very top 
of the head. One man tries, another does not." 
It was a half-truth spoken by the great surgeon. 
Aspiration measures inspiration. When our Lord 
himself promised that the disciple, faithful over a 
few things, should be rewarded by being made 
ruler over many, he appealed to the love of pow- 
er which is an indestructible element of the moral 
nature of man made in the image of God. Chris- 
tianity regulates and sanctifies this aspiration, but 
does not extirpate it. It could not do so without 
partly obliterating the divine image. 



IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Young Longstreet entered the junior class in Yale 
College in 1811. By Dr. Waddell he had been 
so well drilled that his preparation was thorough, 
and he found no difficulty in mastering the pre- 
scribed course in that famous school. 

Of his life at Yale he says: "The two years 
that I passed at college were among the happiest 
of my life. No graduate of Yale ever left her 
halls with a warmer love for every member of her 
Faculty than I had, or a tenderer regard for the 
people of New Haven. If parting tears never dried 
up, and he who sheds them could always recog- 
nize them, I could point to many witnesses of this 
truth. The first gush of them was in that same 
North Church while listening to the address of the 
valedictorian of my class. The highest transport 
that I ever felt from vocal music was in this church. 
I loved all the professors of Yale, but the one that 
I admired most of all was Benjamin Silliman. He 
is the only one with whom I ever interchanged a 
letter." 

In the atmosphere of Yale College and the fair 
city of New Haven his political principles under- 
went no change. Connecticut has always been 
inclined to the strict construction theory of consti- 
tutional interpretation. Wherever you find a rep- 
utable Connecticut Democrat, you will find a man 

(26) 



IN NE W ENGLAND. 2 J 

singularly tenacious of his political views, and 
steady in his adherence to legitimate party organ- 
ization and obligations, That the young Georgia 
student, who was all his life so intense in his South- 
ern feelings, found the people of New Haven very 
congenial to him — just like the people he had been 
loving all his life — is not at all strange. Ignorance 
is the mother of sectional prejudice. 

The record of his college life is very meager. 
He was studious, correct in his moral deportment, 
and socially popular. We have abundant proof 
that his intellectual development was healthful and 
rapid. He was twenty-three years old at gradua- 
tion. Deducting the two years "wasted at the 
Richmond Academy," as he bitterly expressed it 
in his old age, this was too short a time for the 
completion of the curriculum of that famous school 
of liberal learning. The pupil in this case may 
have exhibited extraordinary aptness in the acqui- 
sition of learning, as he certainly possessed unu- 
sual powers of expression, but it would have been 
better for him had he been less hurried in his edu- 
cational course. Genius overleaps all ordinary 
obstacles and disappoints all ordinary calculations, 
but the laws of mental acquisition and development 
are as inexorable as are those of physical nutrition 
and growth. If Longstreet blundered by too great 
haste, he did what is done by ninety-nine out of 
every hundred young American students. If, 
notwithstanding, he achieved a great career, the 
fact must be attributed to a brilliant native genius 
and extraordinary post-scholastic diligence as a 
student. The early graduate who, having the 



28 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

wings of genius, flies and takes the prize fur- 
nishes no proper example for the average student, 
who must with sweat and toil climb the rugged 
steeps of learning; and the unwritten records of 
life's failures would disclose many a self-elected 
genius whose flight was brief and whose fall was 
fatal. The genius in college is too often the fail- 
ure in after life. In some cases the cause is to be 
found in the fact that what is called genius is the 
abnormal stimulation of some shining faculty at the 
expense of the entire mental organism, a pearl that 
is the product of disease and the precursor of death. 
In other cases the failure is to be looked for in the 
folly that leads the possessor of genius, real or im- 
aginary, to think that it will enable him to defy 
the laws of mind and obtain the prizes of life with- 
out paying the price. The wish is as dishonest as 
the expectation is delusive. (This digression may 
have little biograpical value, but let it stand.) 

After graduation at Yale College, young Long- 
street immediately entered the law school of Judges 
Reeve and Gould in Litchfield, Conn. These 
gentlemen must have been lawyers and teachers 
of rare ability. The young barrister who felt their 
touch never lost the traces of their power. The 
year spent under their instruction grounded the 
prospective lawyer in the principles, methods, and 
ethics of that profession from whose ranks have 
come so many of the noblest defenders of freedom 
and the greatest benefactors of the human race, 
but whose "black sheep " have made it too often 
a synonym with the ignorant for trickery and ex- 
tortion. 



IN NEW ENGLAND. 29 

At Litchfield Longstreet sat for a year, " off and 
on," under the ministry of Lyman Beecher, that 
rugged and massive descendant of brawny black- 
smiths whose belief in predestination did not pre- 
vent them from working for the means of living in 
the midst of a world where second causes operat- 
ed, and father of perhaps the most notable family 
of children ever born into one American household. 
Lyman Beecher was a giant in his day, and it was 
no small privilege for an inquisitive, responsive 
young man like Longstreet to receive the impact 
of his mighty thought and to catch the magnetism 
of his glowing heart from week to week. Lyman 
Beecher was one of the architects of Longstreet' s 
character and career. The measure of the influ- 
ence of the great old Calvinistic preacher upon the 
young law student cannot be known, but it could 
not have been inconsiderable. 

Among the later writings of Judge Longstreet 
is this allusion to one of Lyman Beecher's daugh- 
ters, the pathos of which will not fail of recogni- 
tion by the readers for whom it is quoted: "Her 
name," said he, "has been brought annually, at 
least, and tenderly to my memory for about fifty 
years. She was betrothed to Alexander Fisher, 
of my class, a man the like of whom it takes the 
world a century to produce. From the day that 
he entered college to the day that he graduated 
he never missed but one question in a branch of 
science taught in the institution ; and if he was be- 
fore as he was after I entered the class, he never 
hesitated two seconds in giving his answers. He 
was elected Professor of Mathematics in Yale Col- 



30 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

lege soon after he graduated, was sent to England 
upon some business connected with the college, 
shipwrecked and lost; and thus Miss Beecher lost 
a union of perhaps fifty years with the brightest 
genius that I ever saw, and I believe the brightest 
that America ever produced, blended with as love- 
ly a moral character as any American ever bore." 
This romance moved the old judge's heart fifty 
years after the cruel tragedy took place. A cruel 
tragedy it is on the face of it, and mysterious be- 
yond our solution, but life is full of such tragedies 
and seeming waste of brilliant genius and splendid 
potentialities. Is there a God? Does he know? 
Does he care? The revelations of the gospel in 
which life and immortality are demonstrated, and 
the intuitions of the trusting soul that walks by 
faith in this night-time of our being give the affirm- 
ative answer that saves us from madness and de- 
spair. 

the ruined piles of mind 
Daily discovered everyAvhere, 
Built but to crumble in despair! 

1 dare not think Him so unkind. 

The rudest workman would not fling 

The fragments of his work away 

If every useless bit of clay 
He trod on were a sentient thing. 

And does the Wisest Worker take 
Quick human hearts, instead of stone 
And hew and carve them one by one, 

Nor heed the pangs with which they break? 

And more: if but creation's waste, 

Would he have given us sense to yearn 
For the perfection none can earn, 

And hope the better life to taste? 



IN NEW ENGLAND. 3 1 

I think, if we must cease to be, 
It is cruelty refined 
To make the instincts of our mind 

Stretch out toward eternity. 

Wherefore I welcome nature's cry, 
As earnest of a life again, 
Where thought shall never be in vain, 

And doubt before the light shall fly. 

No! there is no such waste. The hairs of our 
heads are all numbered. The buddings of genius 
will burst into full flower somewhere. Develop- 
ment is not arrested. The infinite love conserves 
what infinite power creates. The early friends 
whose souls touched in hallowed union in their 
young manhood now understand the mystery of 
life and death. They see face to face, and know 
even as they are known. 



THE BENCH, THE BAR, AND THE 
HUSTINGS. 



Returning to Georgia, young Longstreet was 
admitted to the bar in 1815, and commenced 
the practice of law. Of goodly presence, pleasant 
address, fluent, witty, self-poised, full of energy, 
and honorably ambitious, with a well-disciplined 
intellect and pure morals, he began his profes- 
sional career under the most flattering auspices. 
His success was rapid. To take rank with such 
compeers as William H. Dawson, John M. Ber- 
rien, Howell Cobb, and others of like character 
and genius, was no small achievement for the 
young lawyer. The good Georgia people, recog- 
nizing that they had among them a young man 
endowed with genius, took him to their hearts, as 
has always been their way. And a good way it is. 
The public men of Georgia have had fierce con- 
flicts among themselves, and at times the whole 
State has fairly rocked with their mighty conten- 
tion ; but it has been the custom for Georgians to 
stand by Georgia and one another against the 
world. When Toombs and Stephens in their 
prime divided the scepter of political supremacy 
between them, they were friends, not rivals. The 
bluff and colossal Toombs and the pale and atten- 
uated Stephens did not conceal their admiration 
and love for each other. Georgia was large 
(32) 



BENCH, BAR, AND HUSTINGS. 33 

enough for them both, and they were both too 
large for the petty jealousy and bitter rivalry that 
ordinarily make it as impossible for two politi- 
cians of first-rate ability to live amicably within 
the same State lines as for two game roosters to 
keep the peace in the same farm-yard. When 
George F. Pierce was in the zenith of his powers 
and fame as a pulpit orator, even the odium theo- 
gicum, the most odious of all odious things, was 
banished or abashed into silence in the presence 
of the honest Georgia pride that led the highest 
High-churchman, the most Calvinistic of Calvin- 
ists, and the hardest of Hard-shells alike to flock 
to hear him and to trumpet his praises. 

Georgia has always been a good mother to her 
children. And her children have repaid her love 
to them by their devotion to her. Those who have 
wandered away from her never forget her. Even 
her adopted children, who have once felt the throb 
of her mother-heart, love her forever. It is a fam- 
ily feeling. When a Georgian is made the recip- 
ient of an honor in Church or State, every true 
Georgian rejoices in the fact, and appropriates his 
share of the distinction. Proper State pride is the 
guard and glory of a State. When young Long- 
street began to show the metal of which he was 
made, he found himself enveloped in an atmos- 
phere warm with kindly feeling, and felt stimulat- 
ed to put forth all his powers by the ready and 
hearty applause of a generous people. 

The educated young men of the time took to 
politics, as a matter of course. To a young law- 
yer of Longstreet's ardent temperament and ear- 



34 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

nest convictions, it was next to impossible to resist 
the current that bore him in that direction. It is 
pretty certain, however, that he did not resist very 
strenuously. He yielded a willing captive to the 
seductions of political ambition, which opened the 
widest field of achievement among a people mainly 
devoted to agriculture, having in their midst no 
great cities as centers for the stimulation of litera- 
ture and trade. The men of genius of the old 
South devoted themselves to the study of state- 
craft for reasons that are patent, neglecting litera- 
ture as a profession. What was gained in the one 
direction was lost in the other. Jefferson, Madi- 
son, Calhoun, and a few others have left State pa- 
pers and political disquisitions that are immortal, 
while the larger number of their brilliant contem- 
poraneous fellow-Southerners have left only the 
oral tradition of the eloquence that stirred the 
multitude and the legal learning that excited the 
admiration of the bar and the bench. 

Longstreet's reputation grew so rapidly that it 
soon filled the State. " He rapidly achieved such 
fame, and won for himself such reputation as a 
finished and eloquent orator, that he could always 
command as large an audience as any man in the 
State, and perhaps larger than could any other 
man." (Chancellor Waddell's Address of 1873 — 
Historical Celebration.) 

Longstreet, in his old age, thought it worthy of 
mention that he "was elected Captain of the Three 
Hundred and Ninety-eighth District Company of 
Qeorgia Militia." The Georgia militia! what 
memories of fun and frolic, of bloodless war and 



BENCH, BAR, AND HUSTINGS. 35 

epauleted glory do the words bring to the minds 
of readers whose recollections go back to those 
days ! The muster-day was a great day for the 
patriots who compulsorily and awkwardly marched 
and countermarched, and mangled the military 
manuals ; for the sellers and drinkers of corn whisky 
and hard cider; for the venders and consumers of 
ginger-cakes; and for the bullies and experts who 
contended for the championship in fighting, wrest- 
ling, running, jumping, and shooting. It was a 
great day, too, for the politicians who took advan- 
tage of the gatherings of the voters in large masses 
to air their eloquence and solicit the popular suf- 
frage. Capt. Longstreet knew very well that his 
modest military title would not do him any hurt 
with a constituency of Georgians who in their 
hearts cherished an undying passion for military 
glory. It is in them yet, and will exhibit itself on 
occasion, whether it be the apotheosizing of a gen- 
eral who led against heavy odds the thinned col- 
umns in gray or a one-armed private who followed 
his standard. 

Capt. Longstreet never rose any higher in mili- 
tary rank, for he was soon destined to enter a war- 
fare whose weapons were not carnal; and before 
the drum beat for the war that came in 1861 he 
was too old to take the field. That he relished 
this little episode in his experience may not be 
doubted. Its grotesque and humorous aspects 
could not escape his quick observation, while his 
martial fires kindled at the sound of the drum and 
fife when "Yankee Doodle" was the tune. 

His quick sympathies and generous nature made 



36 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

him zealous and effective in defense as a lawyer in 
criminal cases. He identified himself so fully with 
his client for the time being that he was carried 
away with the tide of his feelings, and usually took 
the judge and jury with him. It is related of him 
that on one occasion he was defending a worthless, 
half-witted sort of fellow, the son of a widow, for 
sheep stealing. The proof of his client's guilt was 
so plain that his only hope of getting him clear 
was to appeal to the sympathies of the jury in be- 
half of the unfortunate, weak-minded rustic, whom 
he pictured most eloquently and pathetically as a 
fatherless youth, deprived of the advantages of ed- 
ucation and paternal discipline, the only support 
of his poor old mother, whose last hope and only 
remaining comfort in this world, which had always 
been a world of hardship and sorrow to her, would 
be taken from her if her boy should be convicted. 
The presiding judge, jury, and spectators were 
melted by this overwhelming appeal, and Long- 
street himself was so wrought upon by the picture 
he himself had drawn that he exclaimed: " Look, 
gentlemen of the jury, at my client, as he sits here 
before you, bathed in tears, his fate in your 
hands." Turning as he spoke, the eyes of all in 
the court-room following the same direction, he 
beheld his client sitting with a vacant face munch- 
ing a huge horse ginger-cake ! The anticlimax 
and reaction were complete. All in the court-room 
were convulsed with laughter, excepting perhaps 
Longstreet himself, who lost his case that time. 

The next year ( 1822) he was raised to the bench, 
and assumed the title by which he was best known 



BENCH, BAR, AND HUSTINGS. 37 

ever after: Judge Longstreet. As a jurist he won 
distinction by his learning, industry, integrity, and 
that rare common sense that never failed him in 
any position he was called to fill. His irrepressible 
humor did not fail to relieve the tedium of the 
court-room, but did not exceed the limits of judi- 
cial decorum and good taste. 

Among the contemporaries and competitors of 
Judge Longstreet were John Forsyth, wit, orator, 
diplomate, and party leader, who shone alike in 
Senate, forum, or court, whose satire cut like 
sharpest steel, and whose logic was as close-linked 
as his rhetoric was brilliant; John Macpherson 
Berrien, whose ability and classic eloquence made 
him a conspicuous figure in the United States Sen- 
ate in the days of the giants; L. Q. C. Lamar, the 
elder, whose genius, courage, and high chivalry 
made the name illustrious during his generation, 
and who has a true successor in his not less illus- 
trious son; George W. Towns, forceful, polished, 
magnetic, a prince among his fellows and a mas- 
ter of the human heart ; the elder Colquitt, the mar- 
velously versatile lawyer, politician, and preacher, 
who could rouse the enthusiasm of the crowd on 
the hustings, sway a Senate, convulse with his 
matchless humor a social circle, carry the verdict 
of a jury, or melt a congregation to tears ; William 
H. Crawford, colossal in stature as in intellect, 
learned, pure-minded, grand, of whom Nathaniel 
Macon, the great North Carolinian, said he was 
"the greatest man he ever saw," and who at one 
tirrte seemed to be within reach of the presidency 
of the United States; William C. Dawson, whose 



38 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

strong common sense, integrity of character, racy 
Georgia humor, and sturdy independence gave 
him prominence as a lawyer, jurist, and legislator, 
and popularity with the people; John M. Dooly, 
the inimitable, a queer genius whose quaint native 
humor never failed, whose jokes still circulate, 
whose knowledge of human nature and power to 
play upon it made him invincible before a jury or 
in a political canvass; Andrew J. Miller, lawyer, 
statesman, patriot, a magnanimous and large- 
hearted man who died at the early age of fifty- 
seven; Richard Henry Wilde, known to the world 
at large by one short poem, but whose wide knowl- 
edge of law and letters, remarkable ability as an 
orator, and brilliancy as a conversationalist won for 
him the warm admiration of a whole generation of 
Georgians; the elder Thomas W. Cobb, noble in 
character as mighty in intellect, who was just go- 
ing off the stage; Thomas W. Cobb, the younger, 
a gifted, grand man, whose fall at Fredericksburg 
was felt to be a national calamity; Howell Cobb, 
who filled a cabinet office under President Buch- 
anan, a solid, massive man who was a recognized 
force in both -post and ante helium politics ; Joseph 
Henry Lumpkin, the upright judge, whose benig- 
nant face beamed a benediction upon every be- 
holder, with a brain clear and strong, a heart 
warm and large, equally venerated for his learning 
and loved for his virtues; Eugenius A. Nisbet, 
widely read on many lines, chaste and mellifluous 
in diction, of pure metal, and highly polished; 
Christopher B. Strong, able, high-minded, true; 
Eli S. Shorter, with a head for the law that would 



BENCH, BAR, AND HUSTINGS. 39 

have given him prominence anywhere, and a gen- 
ius for finance that at a later day would have made 
him leader in the Stock Exchange or Board of 
Trade of any metropolis; Absalom H. Chappell, 
whose strong and stately form typed his large and 
vigorous intellect; Washington Poe, princely in all 
the elements of his physical, mental, and moral con- 
stitution; Henry R. Jackson, a man finely tuned 
on the loftiest key, a true poet and able lawyer; 
W. H. Underwood, another genius, whose wit was 
as sparkling as his legal knowledge was exact and 
full; James Jackson, combining judicial learning 
with religious fervor in an extraordinary degree. 
The names crowd upon the page, and a halt must 
be called in marshaling the splendid array of the 
professional rivals of Judge Longstreet. A little 
later came Benjamin H. Hill, and Hammond, 
Speer, Gordon, Du Bignon, Lester, Hardeman, 
W. B. Hill, and others who maintain the -prestige 
of a noble profession, and inherit the lofty tradi- 
tions and genius of the Georgia bench and bar. 

To rise so rapidly, and maintain his place among 
such men as these, furnishes conclusive proof of 
the quality of the young barrister whose career is 
sketched herein. 

His charges to juries and the final sentences 
which he pronounced upon prisoners convicted of 
capital offenses were remarkable for their elo- 
quence — the eloquence of deep and solemn feeling 
in a kind-hearted man as well as that of a schol- 
ar fertile in classic and historical allusion, whose 
graceful rhetoric adorned all it touched, and whose 
irrepressible humor flung some flash of special il- 



40 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

lumination alike over the dryest details of civil ju- 
risprudence and the causes celebres in which life 
and death were weighed in the balances of justice. 
Then, as now, in Georgia the title of judge was 
one of distinguished honor. 

While the waves of party passion were often 
lashed into fury, no stain of dishonor or shadow of 
suspicion had rested on the judiciary of the State. 
Even in the dark and stormy period of reconstruc- 
tion the wholesome traditions and moral sentiment 
of the State overbore the malign tendencies of the 
time, and the judiciary of Georgia was the break- 
water against political corruption and the bulwark 
of civilization. Among Georgia jurists there have 
been many men of lofty intellectual stature, great 
learning, and marked individuality, but none of 
brighter genius or purer fame than Longstreet. 



THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER. 

A love story runs through Judge Longstreet's life 
— fifty years of earth being its first chapter; the 
second to be continued forever. But this story 
can never be written or printed. No one could 
have told it save the two persons most interested, 
and neither of them could have told it as it was 
without the invasion of privacies as sacred as holy 
love itself. To have attempted it would have been 
like unsealing a vial that held the most precious 
perfume, whose odors would be exhaled and lost 
in the air. The best true love stories have never 
been told. They cannot be told. The novelist 
and poet can picture love according to their con- 
ceptions of it, but they cannot unveil the holy 
of holies where true love finds actual expression. 
The deepest love, human or divine, has in it an 
element of reserve. 

Had he chosen to do so, Judge Longstreet could 
have given us a chapter on his wooing and wed- 
ding with fair Frances Eliza Parke over which ev- 
ery reader would linger with delight. He had met 
her at Greensboro while there on professional 
duty, and was drawn by that'mysterious attraction 
felt by souls destined for each other. Love at first 
sight is not seldom the snare of the silly and the 
pretense of the shallow, but it remains true that 
those who are intended for each other are apt to 

(41) 



42 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

feel at once the force of affectional gravitation 
when thrown into close proximity. The brilliant 
young lawyer found his fate when he first met in the 
social circles of that aristocratic old Georgia vil- 
lage the gentle, sweet-faced young maiden. She 
was of good family — in fact, it is said she was of 
the Parke-Curtis family, of Virginia, allied to that 
of George Washington, and that her mother was 
akin to that robust British hero, Sir John Hawkins. 
Young Longstreet was not searching for a pedi- 
gree when she crossed his path. His nature was 
too earnest, simple, and true for it to be possible 
for him to be a fortune-hunter or a title-seeker. 
The simple fact is, he fell in love. Of their first 
meetings, their rides among the red hills and deep 
woods, their moonlight walks, his first conscious- 
ness that he was a lover, and his first trembling 
avowal of the fact, her blushing response, the 
progress of his suit, the proposal and acceptance — 
of all this, which made the sweetest memory of 
their lives, there is no record, and so we are left to 
fill out the picture for ourselves. It was not a long 
courtship. He was too ardent a lover and she too 
little of a coquette for that. That he had rivals 
we may be quite sure, and perhaps there was 
enough of rivalry to add a fresh element of excite- 
ment to the wooing, and to arouse the witty and 
magnetic young barrister from Augusta to do the 
best and quickest work possible to him in that line 
of achievement. Whether he indited to her verses 
of his own composition, whether he made notable 
changes in the raiment he wore, whether he ex- 
hibited much of the awkwardness so often charac- 



THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER. 43 

teristic of young men of the loftiest ideals in deal- 
ing with women, whether they had any of the 
lovers' quarrels that are so maddening, with the 
reconciliations that are so blissful, we cannot say. 
It is certain that his wooing prospered. 

They were married March 3, 1817, when he was 
twenty-seven years old and she a few years young- 
er. They lived together in unbroken affection and 
felicity for fifty-one years. They were parted for 
awhile by her death, which took place at Oxford, 
Miss., in 1868. The glimpses we get of her 
through the utterances, mostly incidental, of 
those who knew her best reveal such a woman 
as could win and hold the heart of such a man 
as her husband, and be an inspiration and a helper 
to him through all the stages of a noble career. In 
an address of Judge James Jackson on the life and 
character of Judge Longstreet, delivered at Oxford, 
Ga., July 16, 1871, this language concerning her 
is quoted from one who knew her well: "I never 
expect to see a lady of more refinement and 
more finished cultivation, of purer soul and bet- 
ter heart than Mrs. Longstreet. She was a seri- 
ous but cheerful person ; rarely well in body, but 
chastened by affliction, she grew in grace until she 
looked like an angel." 

Perhaps it was well for her husband that she was 
a "serious" person, else his irrepressible humor 
might have been at times too exuberant. The last 
clause of the closing sentence gives a charming 
picture of a saint "shining in holy beauty in the 
light of God," and suggests to the elect reader the 
transforming and transfiguring power of the touch 



44 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

of the Spirit of the Lord which chisels the fading 
features of the human face into unearthly beauty 
here, and will clothe the resurrection body with the 
glory of heaven. 

That venerated and saintly man of God, the 
Rev. Walter R. Branham, upon whose name the 
pen lingers with reverent regard, says of her: 
" I met Mrs. Longstreet in Augusta fifty-one 
years ago, and casually, but for a short time, at her 
own house and that of my father up to 1863. Dur- 
ing the war she refugeed to Oxford, Ga., and was 
for a short time the inmate of my house. The en- 
viable reputation she had earned among those who 
knew her well was fully justified by a more inti- 
mate acquaintance. What her earlier opportunities 
were I do not know, but she had evidently under- 
gone a culture which made her a fit companion for 
her gifted and distinguished husband. Her matron- 
ly beauty, her quiet, unobtrusive demeanor, the 
sweet spirit that looked out from her expressive 
eyes, and the kind regard she manifested for the 
welfare and happiness of others, (in the language 
of a friend) 'captured the heart at first sight, and 
kept it.' Although long an invalid, her youthful 
charms were succeeded by that peculiar beauty 
which a chastened, meek, and quiet spirit gives to 
the form and face of maturing years." 

Mrs. Longstreet died in 1868. A letter from 
Judge Longstreet to a kinswoman, written seven- 
teen months afterward, while it furnishes a beauti- 
ful tribute to his wife, supplies some links in this 
life-story. Its details sound a little curious at this 
day. The world has moved since 1817- 



THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER. 45 

Oxford, Miss., March 6, 1870. 

My Very Dear Cousin: A minute has not elapsed since I fin- 
ished reading your most welcome letter, and you see I am an- 
swering it already. Well, my dear Louisa, I must /or you per- 
form a task that I have often attempted, but always abandoned 
as soon as I seated myself to perform it, for with the first 
thought of its execution my heart begins to ache, my eyes be- 
gin to stream, my hand begins to tremble, and I turn from the 
sheet before me as though it were the "winding-sheet" of my 
dear, departed Eliza. You anticipate it, and here it is — executed 
with less perturbation of mind and body than I supposed I could 
carry thus far through it during my brief span of existence. 
She was taken from me after we had lived together in happy 
union fifty years, seven months, and ten days from the date of 
our marriage, 3d of March, 181 7. In all this time I do not be- 
lieve that she ever uttered one word or did one thing to wound 
my feelings. She, as you know, had a very handsome estate 
Avhen I married her; I did not have money enough to buy my 
wedding clothes. Soon after our marriage I went largely in 
debt for a plantation and its outfit for making a crop, with some 
thirty or more of the likeliest field-hands that I ever saw — last 
year hers, this year mine. These remained to her after she had 
given nine like them to her mother, who was in hardly easy cir- 
cumstances. I married her in Greensboro, Ga., seventy-five 
miles from Augusta, my native city. In Greensboro had she 
been brought up from her girlhood. Here we lived for about 
twelve years. Here our first son and her mother died within 
two days of each other. In the meantime I had risen rapidly in 
popular favor and professional reputation. I had been legisla- 
tor and judge, and was running for Congress with the certainty 
of election when our afflictions came upon us. They clipped 
the wings of my worldly ambition forever, and turned my 
thoughts heavenward. My wife estimated my talents by her 
love for the possessor and his rapid preferment, and she had 
doubtless figured to herself the high renown I was to acquire in 
Congress, and the happiness she was to enjoy in witnessing its 
growth amidst the gayeties and splendors of the capital. These 
fond dreams were now dissipated forever. I took down my 
name from Congress, and she and I became seekers and profess- 
ors of religion. It would have been natural for her to have 
said, " Husband, is it not as easy to be a religious statesman as 
to be a religious lawyer?" or have dropped some word indica- 
tive of her sore disappointment, but no such word ever escaped 
her lips. 

Three years after her mother's death I proposed that we 



4 6 



JUDGE LONGSTREET. 



should move to Augusta, where I believed I would have a more 
lucrative practice than I could have in Greensboro. This was 
a proposition to forsake the graves of her mother and her two 
children; to forsake the people among whom she had been 
brought up, all of whom esteemed her, and some, her equals in 
rank, seemed to regard her with a sort of queenly deference — to 
forsake all these and settle among strangers. How natural, how 
pardonable would it have been in her to have said: " My dear 
husband, have we not enough to live on in affluence all of our 
lives? Does our Bible teach us that growth in riches is assist- 
ant to growth in grace? Shall we desert the graves of those 
upon whose cheeks we shed our first commingled tears? Shall 
we leave the people who nursed them so kindh^, bore them to 
their place of rest, and wept with us as though our losses were 
their own — leave these people and that consecrated soil for a 
land of strangers, only that you may secure a better practice?" 
O, angel spirit, why did you not say so? I think I can answer 
for her: " Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodg- 
est, I will lodge: thy peopie shall be my people, and thy God my 
God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried." 
Well, we moved to Augusta. I sold my possessions in 
Greensboro at a sacrifice, bought a plantation near the city, and 
commenced planting and lawing with high hopes. Alas! they 
were soon blasted. My practice increased, to be sure, but my 
expenses increased in duplicate ratio, and my troubles in an in- 
numerable ratio. My crops barely paid the expenses of making 
them, my negroes became thieves, they stole my hogs, my corn, 
my bacon (by false keys), and every thing they could sell. Se- 
curity debts I had to pay by thousands; in short, you can 
hardly name a trouble to which I was not subjected. Through- 
out them all my wife was my counselor, my comforter, my en- 
courager. At length I told her I must do one of two things: 
I must sell my plantation and negroes, or I must quit the prac- 
tice of law. These negroes had been bequeathed to her and her 
brother in early childhood by their grandfather, who had select- 
ed them to correspond in age with the age of the two children, 
that they all might grow up together. Her brother soon died, 
and they all fell to her. She was eighteen when I married her, 
and here were these negroes, between forty and fifty in number, 
with not an old one among them save their parents who had been 
bequeathed with them. She was now called upon to say wheth- 
er she would part with the slaves in a body (save the house- 
s'' -vants and their families) or have her husband renounce his 
profession. I don't know that she paused a moment before she 
answered: "Husband, I leave the matter entirely with you, and 



THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER. 47 

will freely acquiesce in your choice." "Then," said I, "we 
will sell them." She showed a little sadness, but never the first 
sign of disapprobation. A purchaser soon appeared in a com- 
panion of my boyhood, a pious man, and of course a good mas- 
ter. Is old them at fair prices all round. This sale put me out 
of debt and left me a clever sum over, and relieved me of the 
eternal torment of negroes, overseers, and creditors. Things 
now brightened about me greatly. A few years rolled on, when 
this "lovely and loving spirit" was called on to endure the se- 
verest trial of all. 

The first year of my ministry (1839) the yellow fever made its 
appearance in Augusta, and my house was soon filled with fugi- 
tives from the city, who boarded me out of every thing I had to 
eat, so that I had nothing to sell at the end of the year but my 
dwelling and land. These I disposed of at their full value. I 
was now foot-loose for the Methodist itinerancy. While admin- 
istering to the sick, the dying, and the dead for five dreary 
months, expecting every day to become a victim to the disease, 

how my soul rejoiced as it found me serving God instead of 
serving clients! At the close of the year I was placed at the 
head of Emory College, a recently established Methodist insti- 
tution in the recently laid out Methodist village of Oxford, Ga. 
The fees of my practice at the bar amounted to about $13,000. 
These, with the proceeds of the sales of my property, enabled 
me to save it from death, at least to relieve its death agonies, and 
to do great good otherwise. The college prospered under my 
supervision, and in the course of a few years became the rival 
of the State University in reputation and patronage. Here both 
my companion and myself supposed that we were to spend the 
remainder of our lives, but Providence had not so ordered it. 
At the end of nine years' residence in this peaceful village, she 
was doomed to another change, and to bid farewell to the soil 
that covered two more of her children, to her only two surviv- 
ing ones, and three grandchildren. In the spring of 1848, I re- 
ceived letters from two of the Trustees of the University of Mis- 
sissippi desiring to know if I would accept the presidency of 
that institution if elected, giving me strong assurance of the ap- 
pointment. I was immediately impressed with the opinion that 

1 could serve God and my country better at the head of a State 
institution than at the head of a sectarian institution. I sub- 
mitted the matter to Bishop Andrew with these words: " I am 
inclined to think that I ought to accept this appointment. Em- 
ory is now upon a firm basis. There are fifteen preachers witl a 
sound of the college bell, and therefore I am not needed here 
either as a preacher or a teacher. Take a little time to consider 



48 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

the matter, and give me the light of jour counsel upon it." "I 
don't want a moment's time to reflect upon it," said he; ''you 
ought to go," and gave his reasons. I immediately signified to 
the Trustees my readiness to accept. The election did not come 
on till October or November. As soon as our Commencement 
exercises of 1848 were over I resigned. My successor was ap- 
pointed and I was a gentleman at large, free to choose the mode 
of life that might seem to be the most agreeable to me. I en- 
tered the itinerancy without a circuit; and worked where I was 
most needed. My labors were greatly blessed, and of course 
so was I. Thus employed the report of the Mississippi election 
found me. Through the influence and eloquence of a Catholic 
member of the Board, who protested against ever putting a 
clergyman of any denomination at the head of the college, I 
was beaten by one vote. I was so happy in my new vocation, 
which could not be changed for a month to come, that I rather 
rejoiced than repined at my defeat. The news of it had hardly 
had time to reach Louisiana before I received news that I had 
been unanimously elected by the Trustees of Centenary College 
President of that institution. I accepted the appointment. 
Hitherto my changes of vocation and place had all been in 
Georgia, where from the mountains to the sea-board my wife 
and myself were well-known and much esteemed. Now she 
was to journey to a far off land, where neither she nor her hus- 
band knew a living soul. She accompanied me thither with the 
same equanimity and uncomplaining submission with which she 
accompanied me to Oxford, Ga. I entered upon my duties in 
February or March, 1849, and right from the close of the five 
happiest months of my life began the five most tormenting. 
How they came to be so, no matter. I presided at one Com- 
mencement in July, and resigned. While packing up my things 
to return to Georgia, I was informed that I had been unanimous- 
ly elected President of the University of Mississippi. I accept- 
ed the appointment, and took my place in September, iS_)Q. My 
sons-in-law followed me hither. In July, 1S56, I resigned and 
felicitated my wife upon her having lived to see the end of my 
vagrant life. I had now reached my sixty-sixth year, and felt no 
scruples at retiring from active service of Church or State, but 
she was doomed to one more move. Toward the close of 1857, 
I received a letter from the Trustees of the University of South 
Carolina inquiring if I would accept the presidency of that in- 
stitution if elected. " Here," said I, " wife, you shall decide this 
matter. If the inquiry came from any other quarter, I would 
not hesitate a moment to answer in the negative; but South 
Carolina and Georgia have been twin nurses of me and twin sis- 






THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER. 49 

ters in my affections; and if I could be tempted into the service 
of any State in the Union at this late day, it would be dear old 
South Carolina. But your word shall be law to me in this case, 
for I shall regard it as the suggestion of Providence." She pos- 
itively refused to decide the question. " Well," said I, " I don't 
think it will be possible for my answer to reach the Trustees in 
time for them to present my name to the Board before the elec- 
tion comes off. I will answer in the affirmative; and if it does 
not reach its destination in time, I shall conclude that I should 
not have accepted the place, and vice versa.' 1 '' It did reach its 
destination just in time, and that was all. I was elected, accept- 
ed, and remained at the head of the College until the students 
volunteered as a body in the service of the Confederacy. My 
wife and myself separated no more until the 13th of November, 
1868, when she left me gloriously for heaven. 

A. B. LONGSTREET. 

4 



A CHANGE OF HEART. 



A change of heart — that is the way Judge Long- 
street himself described the event that changed 
the current of his whole life. At this point a fresh 
regret rises in the mind of the biographer, as it will 
in that of the reader, in recalling the fact that the 
papers of Judge Longstreet on religious subjects 
were destroyed by fire about the close of the war. 
The psychology of the conversion of such a man 
furnishes a study of profound interest to all intelli- 
gent minds. The full details of his experience in 
his own language would possess a thrilling interest 
for all religious persons. But there is no one now 
living who can tell all the story, and so the most 
important chapter in this memoir may prove to be 
the least satisfactory. 

He was wrenched out of his usual course of 
thought and living by a great sorrow — the death 
of his first-born son in the year 1824. He reeled 
under the shock. "This loss," he says, "turned 
my thoughts from earth to heaven — not so much to 
heaven' 's rewards as to heaven' 's reunions — and I 
determined to seek religion, but in a way of my 
own, without the help of Churches." 

The blow by which his heart was smitten thus 

opened a channel for God. The hope of heaven's 

reunions has first turned thitherward the thoughts 

and yearnings of a great company of the broken- 

(50) 



A CHANGE OF HEART. 5 1 

hearted to whom the promise and hope of reward 
have afterward come as an auxiliary motive. Our 
hearts are human, and He who made us knows us. 
Great love is wrapped up in a great grief when it 
comes as this grief came to the aspiring, popular, 
rising young lawyer. 

It is surprising to have Judge Longstreet tell us, 
as he does, that at this time he was an infidel. 
What made him an infidel is unknown. Perhaps 
infidelity happened to be the fashion with his com- 
panions at school; or it may have been the infmene 
of some gifted but unbelieving preceptor; or it may 
have been a bad book that had gotten into his 
hands before his mental powers were matured ; or 
it may have been the outgrowth of the intellectual 
pride that so often proves a snare to genius or tal- 
ent. 

He farther astonishes us by the statement that 
he was very ignorant of the Holy Scriptures. "I 
had never," he says, "bestowed an hour's study 
on them, with the honest aim of ascertaining their 
truth, in all my life." 

For four or five days after the death of his son 
it seemed as if his head would rend asunder with 
pain, and he said to his physician: "Doctor, if 
you do not do something for me, I shall be a mad- 
man in a few days." "Time," said the doctor, 
"is the only physician for your disease." "But 
there was a Physician who could and did heal my 
disease long before time could have done it," is 
the grateful record made by him nearly forty years 
afterward. 

The death of his son occurred while he was liv- 



52 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ing with his wife's mother and her second hus- 
band at Greensboro, Ga. This step-father was a 
Christian; "a more blameless character I never 
knew," says Longstreet. "On the day after my 
child was buried," says he, " his wife died. What 
was my loss compared with his? Morning and 
evening would my bereaved household friend go 
down on his knees and acknowledge our afflictions 
as sent of God, and pray for strength to bear them 
submissively, and that they might be sanctified to 
our souls' eternal good. ' I would give a thousand 
worlds,' thought I, 'if I could believe the Scriptures 
as this man does ; their fruits are lovely, to say the 
least of them.' " 

Thus impressed, he tells us that he determined 
to seek religion ; " and I will seek it," he resolved, 
"just in the way those who know most about it 
tell me to seek it. I announced my resolution to 
my wife, and then announced it to her step-father, 
and told him that thenceforward I would share 
family prayer with him. Tears of joy filled his 
eyes, and my tears of grief ceased to flow. I com- 
menced studying the Scriptures in earnest, praying 
God if they really were true that I might be con- 
vinced of their truth. I had not studied them more 
than a fortnight before I began to find in them won- 
derful evidences of their divine origin, which I 
wondered the world had never discovered before, 
and which I afterward learned were from two to 
fifteen hundred years old. All my doubts soon 
vanished, and I became a thorough believer in 
Christianity." 

Thus he attained an intellectual belief in Chris- 



A CHANGE OF HEART. 53 

tianity, and he was now ready to enter the open 
door. His resolution to seek religion " just in the 
way those who knew most about it told him to seek 
it" shows that the barrier of a false pride was 
broken down, and that he was ready to receive 
the kingdom of heaven as a little child. It was 
not long before he was born into the new life. 
The remembrance of it thirty-five years afterward 
thrilled his soul with holy rapture. In a letter to 
an old friend, Gen. James Bethune, dated July 2, 
1859, ne stated that the Rev. Adiel Sherwood offi- 
ciated in the pulpit, " with warm John Howard," 
when, for the first time, with his bosom friend (his 
wife) he bowed a penitent at the altar. "Your 
sister," he adds, "stood by me, and prayed with 
me through all the struggles of the new birth. O 
what a revival did we lead off ! O what happy 
weeks followed!" He tells us that his tears 
gushed and his eyes could scarcely see to trace 
these lines penned so long afterward. 

He came in at the strait gate of repentance 
and faith amid the songs and prayers of the 
Church. He was converted, and knew it. Old 
things had passed away, and all things had become 
new. It was indeed a change of heart. The king- 
dom of heaven — righteousness, peace, and joy in 
the Holy Ghost — was set up within him. It was a 
clear and joyous conversion. The blossomings of 
his new life were as full of beauty and fragrance 
as the after-fruitage was rich and abundant. It 
was what our fathers called a powerful conversion. 

This experience illustrates the text which is the 
key to the kingdom of God — "If any man will do 



54 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
be of God" (John vii. i7)^-and reveals the path 
to peace for every earnest inquirer. 

In a paper by Judge Longstreet, published in 
1870, we find this exegetical comment and chal- 
lenge: " Of course, when Christ says 'If any man 
will do his will,' he means God's will as revealed 
by himself. Now, come, infidel, I dare you to the 
test. Assume that Jesus Christ was what he pro- 
fessed to be: a legate from heaven, sent or coming 
out from God to teach men their duty to their Cre- 
ator, and the consequences of obedience or disobe- 
ence to his commands. Put off all your worldly 
wisdom, and approach him as a little child ap- 
proaches his father. Cease from every thing 
which he calls sin. Read his word carefully un- 
der the supposition that it is, or at least may be, 
true. Honestly pray to him that if it really be 
true, he will convince you of its truth. Pray in pri- 
vate, pray in your family, attend the ministry of his 
word every Sabbath, withdraw from the society of 
profane persons, and make Christians your prin- 
cipal associates. Do this for three months; and if 
you are not become a thorough believer in the 
truth of Christianity, I will submit patiently to any 
chastisement you may choose to inflict'upon me as 
a vile, hypocritical deceiver. / speak from expe- 
rience.'" 

This was written late in his life, when the reality 
of his conversion and the solidity of his hope had 
been tested for nearly half a century with its ad- 
mixture of pleasure and pain, joy and grief, pros- 
perity and adversity. It was not the boast of a 



A CHANGE OF HEART. 55 

young soldier who had just put on his armor, but 
the shout of a veteran who had fought the good 
fight, the joyful song of a pilgrim near the end of 
his journey. 

He goes on to say: " It would be measureless 
cruelty to disenchant me of this delusion (if a de- 
lusion you will call it). Don't argue me out of it 
just as I am approaching the grave. If you do, 
you will pluck out of this serene old heart three 
precious little comforts unknown to science — faith, 
hope, and charity — and put in their places three 
sticks of lunar caustic, which is a work of science, 
but by no means so comforting. If it be all priest- 
craft, or any part of it priestcraft, don't visit its 
penalties on me ; for I pledge you my word and 
honor that I had nothing to do with getting it up, 
and, for the life and soul of me, I cannot see how 
any man could get it up. I can find nothing like 
it that existed before the reign of Augustus Caesar. 
I got it out of a little book, written before there 
was a priest of any order in the world to practice 
any craft. It is called the New Testament. It 
gives us an account of a wonderful personage who 
appeared in the world, and who professed to be a 
teacher and a ruler from God. He delivered his 
precepts and commands to the world; and two il- 
literate fishermen, one a hated tax-gatherer, an 
itinerant doctor, and a man named Mark (calling 
unknown) recorded them. . . . He himself 
said his teaching was from God, and here he 
might have rested his statement with perfect safe- 
ty, seeing that all the infidels of the world for 
eighteen hundred years have not been able to find 



56 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

any thing like it in any man's work. But, gentle- 
men, unbelievers all, he has staked his reputation 
[claims] upon it, and put into your hands a test 
infallible of his veracity, and consequently of the 
soundness or rottenness of the whole Christian re- 
ligion. He says if any man will do his will, he 
shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. 
Now I challenge you to the experiment. But come 
squarely and fairly and honestly up to it. Of 
course I do not extend the challenge to those who 
believe that there is no God. David calls them 
fools, and he knew more about them than I do. 
Certainly I should be a great fool myself to ask a 
man to test the truth of God's chief witness who 
does not believe that there is a God." 

Judge Longstreet tells us that at the time of his 
conversion he knew nothing of the text upon which 
he based this challenge to the infidel, but which he 
unwittingly verified. The reader will pardon the 
anachronism that unifies this experience. The 
process and the results are commended to whom it 
may concern. 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 



In 1828 Judge Longstreet became a preacher of 
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He took 
this step at a time when he was in the very flood- 
tide of worldly success. His rise had been both 
rapid and steady. In 1821 he was a member of 
the Legislature of Georgia; in 1822 he was made 
Judge of the Ocmulgee Circuit; as editor of the 
Augusta Sentinel he had achieved distinction as a 
writer; and now, having received the nomination 
by the dominant party for a seat in Congress, his 
election was a certainty, and his way seemed to be 
clear to the highest honors his State could bestow 
upon him. A shock of surprise was felt by his 
friends and the general public when, in the heat of 
the canvass, he announced his withdrawal from the 
contest. 

It must have been indeed a mighty compulsion 
that caused him thus to stop short in his political 
career when one of its glittering prizes was within 
his easy reach. It was harder for him than for 
most men. He had a natural fondness for politics, 
as the kindly reader will see, a fondness which 
never wholly left him, and which might have been 
to him a fatal snare had his call and consecration 
to a higher service been less clear and complete. 
As it was, he was more than once drawn to the 
very edge of the outer circle of the vortex of par- 

(57) 



58 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

tisan strife into which many gifted preachers have 
been ingulfed. A few men of extraordinary ver- 
satility and self-poise have been able to blend the 
pursuit of party politics and the preaching of the 
gospel with some degree of success, but it is a 
hazardous experiment for any man. The usual 
result is that a preacher is spoiled without making 
a good politician. Even in the few cases that have 
been apparently successful, it is scarcely to be 
doubted that whatever good such men may have 
done as political leaders or agitators, they might 
have done more by keeping to their one work 
as preachers of the gospel. The preacher who 
preaches the purest gospel, and practices what he 
preaches, is the truest patriot. The example of 
our Lord himself is in point. He wrote no treatise 
on political economy, identified himself with no 
political party. Nor did any of his apostles: they 
had but one theme ; one master-passion absorbed 
them. The temptation to a preacher of popular 
gifts and ardent temperament to go into politics is 
often dangerously strong in our country, especially 
in contests in which political questions involve 
issues affecting the moral as well as the material 
interests of the State. Before our late war, during 
the war, and immediately after the war the preach- 
ers of various denominations — some more, some 
less — took an active part in political matters, justi- 
fying themselves on the plea that vital moral ques- 
tions were at stake, that the life of the republic or 
the safety of a section was threatened, or some 
other plea equally plausible. Those times are past. 
Amonir the survivors let him that is without sin 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 59 

cast the first stone at an erring brother or sister 
Church. Let no petty partisan or narrow section- 
alism in the face of the facts, allege that the fault 
was all on one side. And let nobody take offense 
at the suggestion that had the ministers of the gos- 
pel of peace been less affected by sectional feeling 
and party passion a bloodless settlement of the 
trouble bequeathed to us by our forefathers might 
have been effected, and that the process of recon- 
struction would have been easier and quicker. 

Judge Longstreet was a born politician, but he 
was born again for a higher vocation. He has left 
us but little that tells of the inner questionings and 
struggles that immediately preceded his entrance 
upon the work of the Christian ministry. Regrets 
are useless, but irrepressible. Here is his account 
of the matter in his own language: "I had felt 
for some years that I was called of God to preach 
the gospel, but I had excused myself on the 
ground of my peculiar embarrassments. In the 
fall of 1828 this impression became so strong 
upon my mind that I actually feared to resist it. I 
unbosomed myself to my bosom friend upon this 
head upon this wise: ' My dear wife, I feel that I 
am under the last call of God to preach his gospel. 
So far as it concerns me personally, it will cost me 
no effort to obey it; but when I think of you, I 
recoil from it. A man may be a lawyer and a true 
Christian, but I am satisfied that he cannot be a 
practicing attorney and an efficient preacher at the 
same time. If, therefore, I enter the ministry, I 
shall abandon the law. I shall seek no favors or 
indulgences from the Church that would not be 



60 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

readily granted to the poorest man or the poorest 
preacher in it. Nay, I shall endeavor to set an ex- 
ample to my brethren of prompt and cheerful obe- 
dience to the bishop's orders as to my sphere of 
labor. If he says go to the rice-fields of the sea- 
coast and preach to the negroes or to the higher 
latitudes and preach to the mountaineers, I will go. 
But what is to become of you ? You have never 
enjoyed three months of unbroken health since I 
first knew you. You must bid adieu to this spa- 
cious, peaceful country-seat, with all its sacred as- 
sociations (we had buried two children near it) 
and its comfortable surroundings, to follow your 
husband to all places and all classes of people, 
where and with whom he may be ordered to work 
for God. How can you endure such a life, after 
the life of ease and affluence that you have always 
led? But, after all, it may be that I am mistaken 
in telling my impressions for the indications of Prov- 
idence. Let us, therefore, make it the subject of 
prayer for one week, asking God to give us some 
intimation of his will in this all-important matter.' 
At the end of three days I inquired of her whether 
she had come to any conclusion upon the subject 
of our special petition. She said she had, and it 
was that I ought to preach. I replied: ' I am thor- 
oughly convinced of it.' The next Sabbath found 
me in the pulpit, a licensed Methodist preacher. 
Here I announced that as soon as I had filled my 
obligations to my clients I would cease to practice 
law and devote myself exclusivery to the service of 
God. The negroes, at least, o-ave audible sio-ns of 
rejoicing, for I had endeared myself to them by 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 6 1 

having opened and conducted a Sabbath-school for 
their children, which was really an improving in- 
stitution. The Conference met at the close of the 
year, and the bishop stationed me at Augusta, to 
allow me an opportunity to close up my law busi- 
ness. From the day that I entered the pulpit to 
the day of our return home after the war, I never 
wanted a dollar nor my wife a comfortable home. 
<■ Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness, and all these things shall be added unto you,'' 
saith the Lord." 

It is probable that from the very hour of his con- 
version he had been drawn toward the Christian 
ministry. The rule seems to be that the call of the 
Holy Spirit quickly follows conversion. It ante- 
dates it in some cases, as some who will read these 
pages can testify. Judge Longstreet's decision to 
preach the gospel was probably the sequel of a proc- 
ess begun in the soul of the young lawyer the very 
hour when, kneeling as a penitent, he felt the touch 
of renewing grace and rose a rejoicing convert in 
the Church at Greensboro years before. The in- 
terval was a period of preparation during which he 
had tested his religion and himself. What the 
apostle Paul did during the three years spent by 
him in Arabia after his conversion, is left to con- 
jecture ; all we know is that the hand of God was 
on him. The record of this period of Longstreet's 
life is almost as meager as that of the holy apostle, 
but that they were preparatory for a great career 
is equally plain. The call to preach may come at 
any age after the arrival of the period of spiritual 
consciousness and responsiveness ; the time to begin 



62 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

to preach is when the ability to do so is attained. 
It was no hasty impulse or whim of the moment 
that led Longstreet to renounce his candidacy for 
political honors and devote his life to the Christian 
ministry. A secret but abiding impression that he 
must preach the gospel now culminated. To his 
ingenuous mind it was made clear that the great 
crisis had come and he must make his choice, once 
for all: he must be a preacher or a politician; he 
must quench the Spirit or now yield to its leading. 
Had he decided otherwise than he did, one of two 
results would have taken place: he would have 
sunk to the level of the ordinary seeker of political 
place and power, his soul hardening and shrinking 
after the manner of such, or his life would have 
been disturbed and impeded by the warring ele- 
ments that divided the empire of his unhappy heart. 
Longstreet the politician would have had a stormy 
experience and a doubtful ending. As it was, 
his chiefest peril lay in that direction. More 
than once during his after life there seemed to be 
danger that he would be torn from his moorings 
by the fierce currents of political excitement that 
were sweeping over the nation. 

But his consecration to the ministry was unre- 
served and his decision was final. With a joyful 
heart he presented himself for admission into the 
ministry of the Methodist Church, and was cor- 
dially welcomed by the Georgia Conference. 

The old Georgia Conference was at that time a 
notable body of men. The elder Pierce — the " old 
Doctor " — stood at its head. Who ever heard his 
superior as an expository preacher? Who could 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 63 

so effectively wield the whip of small cords in lash 1 
ing the follies of the world and the short-comings 
of the saints? Who could bombard with such tre- 
mendous power the intrenchments of covetousness? 
Who could so melt the heart of a sinner or com- 
fort the sorrowing when the occasion came and the 
mood was on him? Then came the son, "the 
greatest of all the great Georgians," says Judge 
Lamar. To have heard Bishop Pierce preach in 
his prime was like a new revelation of pulpit pos- 
sibilities. Dignity, grace, power, unction — he 
lacked no element of success as a preacher, no 
quality of attractiveness as a man, no attribute req- 
uisite to true greatness in the sphere in which he 
moved, his chief est charm the humility caught from 
holy companionship with the Lord Jesus Christ. 
An early friendship grew up between him and 
Longstreet, which was a joy and a blessing to them 
both. They had much that was in common. In 
a correspondence between them, brief snatches of 
which have survived them, it is delightful to note 
the warmth and freedom with which they speak and 
the exquisite humor with which their letters spark- 
led. Bishop Pierce had a vein of rich Georgia 
humor, refined and repressed, it is true, but often 
breaking out delightfully in the social circle, and 
at times flashing from the pulpit or rostrum. And 
then there was Jesse Boring, whose almost un- 
earthly eloquence had a strange power never to be 
forgotten by him who had once felt its spell; whose 
description of the tragedy of Calvary, the final 
judgment, and the irreversible doom of lost souls 
fell upon the hearers like the peals of a superter- 



64 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

festial trumpet or the sobbings of unspeakable pity 
over infinite woe. His preaching was like the 
sweep of a storm-cloud bright with electric fires 
and resonant with the thunder's roll, followed by 
the sun-burst and arched by the rainbow. And 
there was Samuel Anthony, as strong and uncom- 
promising in dealing with error or wrong as John 
the Baptist, with a tenderness like Jeremiah's, a 
faith like Elijah's, and a love like John's. Who that 
ever heard him pray when his soul was in its in- 
tensest intercessory mood and then preach one of 
his mightiest sermons, could ever doubt that there 
is a supernatural element in the preaching of the 
man truly called of God to the sacred office? And 
there was William Arnold, whose pulpit mosaics 
of Scripture and poetry, of strong theology and 
melodious song, invested his personality and his 
ministry with such a strange fascination. Wher- 
ever he went he preached conviction into his hear- 
ers and sung and prayed them into believing and 
rejoicing. Blessed old evangelist ! the grass has 
grown above his grave for many a year since he 
stood before a Georgia congregation with his 
long white hair streaming, his blue eyes swimming 
in tears, his face aglow with the heavenly flame 
that burned within him ; but the fragrance of his 
holy life still abides, and the fruits of his ministry 
will never be lost. And William Parks, who feared 
not the face of man, as strong and as true as tem- 
pered steel, with the temperament that would have 
made him a martyr in martyr-times, and a theology 
that softened a rugged hero into a loving saint. 
And John W. Glenn, blunt as honesty itself, wise 



LONGS TREET THE PREACHER. 65 

in counsel, mighty in the Scriptures, able and ready 
when needful to use the surgeon's knife as a relig- 
ious teacher and ecclesiastical administrator, with 
a tinge of native humor that smoothed his way and 
brightened all the circles he touched. And "warm 
John Howard," whose life was a living epistle, a 
better demonstration of the truth of Christianity 
than any written or printed volume could be, whose 
memory lingers among both the white and black 
people in Georgia as the true servant of the Lord 
and the true friend of humanity. And Alfred T. 
Mann, who set sound doctrinal preaching to the 
music of a faultless rhetoric and made it glow with 
heavenly fire. And James E. Evans, both revival- 
ist and church-builder, a sanctified orchestra in 
himself, whose sermons shook the strongholds of 
Satan, and whose prayers opened the windows of 
heaven, under whose ministry thousands of souls 
were born unto God. And Caleb W. Key, devout, 
musical, full of faith and the Holy Ghost; and Jo- 
siah Lewis, original and fervent, a holy man and 
strong; and William M. Crumley, whose face 
seemed to have caught the reflection of that of the 
Lord he loved, whose gentle, persuasive eloquence 
drew many from the ways of sin to walk the high- 
way of holiness; and Walter R. Branham, courtly 
and saintly, the golden link that connects the Geor- 
gia Methodism of the past with the present — these 
and others not less worthy, if less conspicuous, 
were Longstreet's contemporaries and co-laborers 
in the Methodist ministry in the old Georgia Con- 
ference, the successors of Hope Hull, Stith Mead, 
and the other stalwart pioneers who laid the foun- 
5 



66 JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 

dations, broad and deep, of Georgia Methodism. 
There is no room here for all their names, but their 
record is on high. 

Longstreet's preaching partook of the character 
of the preaching of his time. It was preaching in 
the strictest sense of the word. He expounded the 
Scriptures, exhorted the sinners, and comforted 
and encouraged the saints in the style that was 
then common to the Methodist pulpit. His train- 
ing as a lawyer and jurist imparted exegetical 
clearness and logical method in conducting his ar- 
guments ; his knowledge of men told him where 
and how to strike at sin ; his knowledge of books 
furnished ample material for historical allusion and 
apposite illustration ; the tenderness of his nature 
taught him how to reach the hard heart. More 
than all this, his preaching had that undefinable 
yet indispensable element which differentiates true 
preaching from all other kinds of human speech: 
the unction from the Holy One. The spiritually- 
minded of all Christian communions know what 
this difference is, and recognize its presence 01 
absence in every sermon they hear. The true 
gospel preached by a true preacher is in demon- 
stration of the Spirit and with power. Where this 
power is lacking, the message is not God's, or the 
messenger is unfaithful. Does God never bless 
his truth when proclaimed by unworthy men? So 
abundant is his mercy that we may hope that he 
does at times convey the water of life to thirsty 
souls through such channels. St. Paul rejoiced 
that to the Philippians Christ was preached even 
though it was from envy or strife ; but the carnal- 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 67 

ly-minded, envious strife-makers wrought no won- 
ders of gracious power such as attested the author- 
ity of the apostles. 

Longstreet was a singer, and he had a way of 
singing a solo in the pulpit before or after preach- 
ing, after the manner of the fathers. This exercise 
was often very effective. The preacher, tuned for 
the special theme that was to be presented, thus 
put himself and his subject en rapport with his au- 
dience, and started a current that swept them on 
together. The solos heard in our churches now 
are often of a widely different sort. 

He was appointed to Augusta, his birthplace 
and childhood's home, the theater of his earliest 
professional triumphs, and the seat of the hated 
old "Richmond Academy," of which he always 
thought and spoke with such hearty abhorrence. 

The spirit of his ministry may be inferred from 
the account given by himself of his pastorate in 
that city: "In 1828 I was stationed in Augusta, 
and happened to be the only minister in the city 
except Mr. Barry (afterward Bishop Barry, of the 
Roman Catholic Church) when the yellow fever 
appeared in Augusta for the first time in awful 
malignity. And now in that city was exhibited a 
spectacle which, if religious sects were not the 
most uncompromising in their differences and the 
most incorrigible in their errors of any people un- 
der the sun, would be worth a thousand sermons 
to the Church and the world in general. Here 
were two representatives of Churches differing 
from each other as far as it is possible for Churches 
to differ, acknowledging the same rule of faith, 



68 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

forced by a sense of duty to be co-laborers in the 
same field of charity. Mr. Barry was untiring in 
his attention to the sick, the dying, and the dead, 
and I tried to be. Of course in our ministrations 
we met every day, if not every three hours of the 
day. At first we met with friendly salutations, 
then with a few words of conversation, then with 
warmer greetings and more prolonged and friend- 
ly conversations, and finally with mutual demon- 
strations of brotherly love which, I believe, were 
sincere on both sides. Mr. Barry occupied a large 
house, two spacious rooms of which — the one above 
the other below — he turned into a hospital. It was 
not open exclusively to Roman Catholic patients, 
but to all, and was free to my visitations at all 
hours. It was soon full. The maximum number 
could have been but little if any short of fifty. 
How could he take care of so many persons ? He 
brought up from Charleston a corps of Sisters of 
Charity. They attended to the living, and he to 
the dead. If the world ever produced a more 
kind, attentive, patient, indefatigable set of nurses 
than these, I never saw them. I am inclined to 
think that Mr. Barry, upon one occasion, conde- 
scended a little below the line of Roman Catholic 
toleration in compliment to his psalm - singing 
Methodist friend (so a Catholic priest once called 
us in derision, greatly to my amusement). Mr. 
Barry, meeting me one day, said to me: ' There's 
one of your people brought to the hospital. Will 
you go and see him ? ' ' Yes,' said I, ' I will go right 
away,' and we went together. He conducted me to 
the bed of the sick man, and stood by me while I 



LONGSTREET THE PREACHER. 69 

conversed with him. At the conclusion, I asked 
the sick man if I should pray with him. He an- 
swered in the affirmative. I knelt, and Barry knelt 
with me, and at the conclusion of the prayer we 
sent our Amens to heaven together. Now if there 
is a member of any Church of Christ who is not 
tenderly and pleasantly touched with this picture, 
he is out of his place and a disgrace to any place." 

Of his manner in the pulpit the Rev. Walter R. 
Branham says: "In the pulpit he mingled the 
logic, cultivated by his long' practice at the bar, 
with his ever-present tenderest pathos and wealth 
of knowledge of men with fine effect. Although 
calm in manner and gently persuasive in style, he 
was not unsuccessful as a revivalist. He sung well, 
and was given to a solo when he concluded an ex- 
hortation, or as a preacher just before announcing 
his text. I remember with what effect he used to 
sing, "All is Well," or " Prepare to meet thy God," 
(the music his own composition). I regret that 
this habit is grown out of use. To my youthful 
feelings the song was often more impressive than 
the sermon." 

These characteristics as a preacher he retained 
to the end of his life, losing a little in vivacity and 
energy, but gaining in depth and tenderness as age 
grew upon him. 



AS AN EDUCATOR. 



That Judge Longstreet should become a school- 
master was as contrary to all natural expecta- 
tions as it was to his own plan and purpose. A 
man who has had a taste of the excitement of fo- 
rensic conflict and the luxury of political triumph 
must feel the impulse of a powerful motive or the 
constraint of imperative obligation, or the irresist- 
ible attraction of a native bias hitherto resisted, to 
exchange the forum, the bench, and the halls of 
legislation for the hard toil and grinding cares of 
the school-room. When the Methodists of Geor- 
gia called him to the presidency of their infant col- 
lege, his acceptance demonstrated the complete- 
ness of his consecration to God in the service 
of his Church. Preferring the path of duty 
to that of selfish ambition, without reserve or 
delay he gave himself to the work to which he was 
called. Doubtless the prime consideration with the 
trustees in his election was the desire to utilize his 
great popularity and influence in behalf of the 
movement to lay broad and deep and strong the 
foundations of a Christian college under the con- 
trol of the Methodist denomination in Georgia. In 
choosing him for this service they took some risk 
with regard to the internal administration of the in- 
stitution. Not every eloquent preacher makes a 
good teacher or governor. Accurate scholarship 
(70) 



AS AN EDUCATOR. 7 1 

and brilliant oratory are not always united in the 
same person. The genius that coruscates on the 
platform is liable to break down under the strain of 
the class-room. The orator who charms the mul- 
titude flounders and fails before his students. In- 
numerable failures prove that the teacher is born to 
his vocation. There was hazard both to the insti- 
tution and to him in calling Longstreet to the pres- 
idency of Emory College. It was known that he 
was a genius, but it was not yet known that, versa- 
tile as he was, the pedagogical instinct was one of 
his gifts. But so it proved. As a teacher he did 
the best work of his life with the most enduring 
results. The extent of his influence cannot be 
measured now. It affected not only the intellect- 
ual and moral development of the students who 
came under his influence, but their political opin- 
ions as well. Georgia and the South would have 
been a different Georgia and a different South 
without him. His genius recommended his relig- 
ion to many who would have repelled its approach 
through a duller man. His intense State rights 
views helped to disciple and solidify the educated 
intellect of his section. His perennial wit and 
humor, while opening the way for his appeals to 
the consciences and hearts of the young men he 
taught, gave a tinge to their thought and speech 
which they never lost and which clings to them 
unto this day. He is the true progenitor of Joel 
Chandler Harris, William T. Thompson, Bill Arp, 
and Sam Jones, and of Georgia preachers like Sam 
Jones, Simon Peter Richardson, Prof. Charles 
Lane, and others, whose sermons are spiced with 



72 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

a wit whose flavor is as truly Georgian as it is in- 
imitable. His successors in the presidency of Em- 
ory College — Pierce, Smith, Thomas, Haygood, 
and Candler — have all had, more or less, this same 
vein running through their composition. Dr. 
Means was fonder of making verses than uttering 
witticisms, and it may be conceded that his verses 
were not always perfect as poetry any more than 
that their jokes always possessed the true Attic 
salt. Longstreet furnished a felicitous demonstra- 
tion that a man may possess learning without ped- 
antry, and combine the sanctity of a saint with the 
sparkle of a wit. Blessed is he who can maintain 
this happy combination, whose piety does not run 
into pietism and whose wit does not sink into 
coarseness or buffoonery. The spirit of Long- 
street still lingers with Emory College. A fervent 
piety, a robust manhood, and a somewhat rollick- 
ing yet not unrefined humor mark the college and 
social life of Oxford, the seat of the institution. 
The young man who leaves it misanthropic, mean, 
unmanly, or undevout does so because of ingrained 
and ineradicable tendencies beyond the reach of 
human agencies and influences. 

The presidency of Emory College gave the 
many-sided Longstreet the opportunity to touch the 
thought and movement of his time at many points. 
Work in the school-room during the week, in the 
pulpit on Sunday, on the platform as occasion of- 
fered, with occasional excursions into the fields of 
literature, filled up the chinks of leisure left from 
college duties and kept the brilliant and popular 
lawyer and politician from sinking into mere rou- 



AS AN EDUCATOR. 73 

tine pedagogy. Nor did his new relationships and 
duties cause him to cease to feel and express a 
lively interest in the current political issues of the 
day. He was intensely public-spirited. The school 
of politics to which he belonged was of the intense 
order, and the drift of events in the direction of 
sectional alienation and final collision was clearly 
discerned by his acute and far-seeing mind. He 
was of that class of public men in the South who, 
foreseeing the dangers that threatened the country, 
gave timely warning thereof, some of whom have 
been most unjustly accused of hastening the catas- 
trophe which they in their own way honestly sought 
to avert. The epithets " submissionist " and "fire- 
eater " were angrily hurled at each other by good 
men who aimed at the same result while differing 
as to the proper policy to be pursued in attaining 
it. Longstreet was a nullifier, standing with Mr. 
Calhoun on this extreme State rights doctrine 
against the official head of the Democratic party 
for the time being. The attitude of the young 
men of Georgia toward such questions during the 
decades immediately following reveal the extent of 
his influence. Among his pupils in political ideas 
was his nephew, Gen. James Longstreet, whose 
name is mentioned in another chapter of this book 
and who did such hard lighting for the maintenance 
of the theories of government that were so ably up- 
held by the tongues and pens of the great ante hel- 
ium Southern leaders, but which were trodden un- 
der foot by the victors in the conflict of arms that 
opened in 1861. 

Judge Longstreet entered upon the duties of 



74 JUDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

President of Emory College in 1840, and delivered 
his " Inaugural Address " February 10 of that year. 
This address will be found in the next chapter. It 
is here printed in full for the reason that it throws 
light on the man and the times. The reader of to- 
day will be interested and amused, if not convinced, 
by his argument in favor of the manual labor feat- 
ure of the college course. He would have been 
more interested, though not so much amused, per- 
haps, had he been a recipient of its peculiar ad- 
vantages as a pupil of the college under that regime. 
It may now be considered a little singular that this 
craze for manual labor in colleges should have 
broken out at that time in the South. But no one 
who knew the old South as it was will share in this 
surprise. Honorable labor, especially agricultural 
labor, never was despised by educated and re- 
spectable people in the South. Of course there 
was snobbery in the South, as there is everywhere 
else where families attain to sudden riches. The 
city loafer, son of a rich tradesman in New York 
or Philadelphia, and the idle and dissolute son of a 
mill-owner or rich mechanic in a New England 
manufacturing town, had his counterpart in the 
dissipated son of a rich planter here and there, for 
folly is confined to no class or section; but it was 
no uncommon thing for the sons of the owner of 
scores of slaves to wield the ax, the plow, and the 
hoe alongside the black field-hands from day to 
day. The white owner of a small farm tilled by 
his own hands, assisted by his sons, had as much 
self-respect, was as independent in spirit, held to 
his convictions as firmly, and was as quick to re- 



AS AN EDUCATOR. 75 

sent an insult as his wealthy neighbor who was the 
owner of a hundred negroes. There was an ele- 
ment scattered throughout the South, larger in 
some localities and smaller in others, called "tack- 
ies " and ' ' crackers ' ' by the whites and " po' white 
trash " by the negroes, who were despised by both 
races, not so much for their poverty as for their 
ignorance and want of self-respect, lacking the in- 
telligence and courage of the one race and the 
docility and good humor of the other. Nowhere 
on earth was a well-behaved, self-respecting white 
man, whether rich or poor, more respected than in 
the old South. Its aristocracy was mainly one of 
character and color, and less an aristocracy of mere 
money than that of any other people equally opu- 
lent known -to history. Longstreet's argument in 
behalf of manual labor in colleges is illustrated by 
reference to the names of Gilmer, McDuffie, Le- 
gare, Crawford, Calhoun, and Cobb, who were his 
fellow-students or co-disciples in the famous Wil- 
lington Academy. The system broke down in the 
South and elsewhere. Why it did so is a ques- 
tion left to be answered by him whose wisdom is 
equal to the task. 

What is said by Judge Longstreet with regard to 
the youthful follies vulgarly denominated " the 
tricks of college boys" is worth reprinting now 
after the lapse of half a centur}-. 

Inaugural Address. — Emory College, Febru- 
ary 10, 1840. 

In this address Longstreet, the school-master of 
fifty years ago, speaks for himself and his times. 



76 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

The reader will give him kindly attention and be 
rewarded for so doing. The oration has the state- 
ly swing of the old times, and breathes a spirit so 
lofty and glows with a fervor so genuine that it is 
like opening a window through which we can see 
the brain and heart of its author: 

In taking the place which has been assigned to me in this in- 
stitution, I beg leave to re-assure the Trustees that I still enter- 
tain the sentiments that I expressed to them when I received 
the first notice of my appointment; and that the time which has 
intervened has rather consecrated than changed them. A few 
more words to them and their charge, and then to the duties 
which they have devolved upon me. 

If, in choosing the first officer of their infant seminary, their 
aim was to place at its head one whose highest ambition is to be 
useful here and happy hereafter; whose text-book in morals is 
the Bible, and whose lessons in physics all begin and end with 
its author; who cannot entertain a thought or sentiment adverse 
to the interest of Georgia without violating that law of man's 
nature which binds him to the soil of his birth; whose patriot- 
ism glows brightest and warmest on the spot where it was en- 
kindled, and radiates thence to the whole circumference of the 
Union; who considers the guardianship of youth as the most 
important, honorable, and sacred trust that can be confided to 
man in any country, but especially in this; always delegated, 
and ever to be received under the implied understanding that 
its duties are to be discharged in strict subservience to the rules 
of parental government — if it was the aim of the Trustees to place 
such an one at the head of this institution, then, in justice to 
them, however vain it may seem in myself, I venture to assert 
that they could not have made a better choice. 

But if it was their design to place here one who with my rev- 
erence for Holy Writ, combines the best, or even extraordinary 
powers for enforcing its precepts upon the hearts and under- 
standings of men; who, with my regard for the interests of 
Georgia, unites the best gifts for promoting those interests ; who, 
with my views of the nature and duties of this office, commands 
the erudition which is likely to give it luster or to insure the 
discharge of those duties in a manner satisfactory even to the 
incumbent itself — then, in justice to candor, however humil- 
iating it may be to myself, I am constrained to acknowledge 
that their choice has been unfortunate; and of my sincerity here 



AS AN EDUCATOR. ijij 

I would give unquestionable proof by immediately resigning 
my post did I believe that I had passed the age of improvement 
or that I am wanting in the industry and capacity necessary to 
insure it. It is true that while in the pursuit of the profession 
which I have just renounced I. was not wholly inattentive to 
those sciences which it is the province of this institution to dis- 
pense; but I addressed myself to them as an amateur, or as a 
penitent for misspent time in the golden hours of my collegiate 
life, and not as a preceptor or professor. If therefore I should 
be found at fault in any of them, I bespeak the indulgence of 
my directors, my colleagues, and my pupils until time shall 
have been allowed me to renew and to improve my acquaintance 
with them. 

I have cause for self-congratulation at being called by the 
Trustees to the high and honorable post which I occupy, and 
they have cause for self-congratulation that they hold a post so 
high and honorable at their disposal; but there is a ground of 
congratulation brought naturally in view from my position, 
upon which we all can meet, and where all who regard the in- 
terest and honor of the State will meet with us. It is that this 
is but one of four kindred institutions which have risen up in 
Geoi-gia within a very few years past, and almost all by private 
munificence alone. They argue well for the spirit of the age, 
and augur well for ages to come. They foretell that the day is 
not far distant when we shall be no longer under the necessity 
of importing our preceptors, our engineers, our geologists, our 
every thing that demands proficiency in science. The}' foretell 
that the day is not far distant when Georgia will contribute 
something to the vast stores of literature with which Europe is 
astonishing, enlightening, and blessing the world. I confess 
that I have^ften felt my national pride stung by a comparison 
of the Old and New Worlds in point of intellectual advance- 
ment. And when I reduce the comparison to England, France, 
and Germany on the one hand and the Southern States on the 
other, I have felt humbled under a sense of their vast superi- 
ority over us. True, they have advantages in their long estab- 
lished and well-endowed universities, their extensive libraries, 
their ready access to the relics of ancient literature and art, their 
hereditary fortunes, their dense population, and their constant 
intercourse with all parts of the world, which must for centuries, 
if not forever, keep them ahead of us in many departments of 
science. But there are some in which they lead vis wherein 
they derive no aid from those auxiliaries, and others wherein the 
advantage is on our side. We have no apologj' for the distance 
at which we are in the rear of them in the exact sciences in 



78 



JUDGE LONGSTREET. 



chemistry, botany, natural history, geology, and in works of 
imagination and taste. Some of these depend upon principles 
accessible to all, and others upon nothing more than close at- 
tention to the great volume of nature that lies open before us. 
If all that is grand, beautiful, picturesque, or curious in that 
spacious volume could have induced us to study it, the South- 
ern States should have been among the foremost in some of 
those sciences, and Georgia should have been abreast with the 
foremost of the Southern States. But it is a lamentable truth 
that, in the sixty years of her independence, she has not shed a 
gleam of light upon any one of them. There is a still more lam- 
entable truth in reserve, which it is no longer a virtue to con- 
ceal. It is that some of her sons (if sons they may be called) 
harbor a deadly hostility to all that savors of moral or mental 
improvement in the country. Our university, to which we are 
now indebted for nearly all that is valuable in the council of the 
State, creditable on the bench, or noble in enterprise, they would 
have strangled at its birth, and, having failed of their purpose, 
they would now perish it by withholding from it its needful sus- 
tenance. I speak not here of those who oppose appropriations 
to this institution because like favors are not extended to all of a 
like character, though I cannot understand why that which is 
confessedly a State institution should be denied the assistance 
of the State upon such a ground — this is to cripple a friend 
because other friends are crippled — but I speak of those who 
oppose all colleges upon the ground that they are useless. They 
can scarcely touch a household or farming utensil that is not 
directly or indirectly a trophy of science. They cannot know 
the boundaries or contents of their own lands without it, and 
yet they are ever exclaiming: "What good has education ever 
done?" They will sweep over a space of a hundred and fifty 
miles in a day, with the product of their whole year's labor by 
their sides, vend it at the best market on the sea-board, and re- 
turn with its proceeds to their homes in the same time, and all 
the way exclaim : " What good has education ever done ? " The v 
will see their invaluable staple scudding down three hundred 
miles' length of river, enter the ocean, shoot across the wide 
Atlantic, undergo a magic transformation, and return to them 
jn beautiful and useful fabrics — all in the space of a few short 
months, and all with the exertion of little more physical power 
than a child could command ; and all the time they will exclaim : 
"What good has education ever done?" They will take the 
seven-penny calendar from their fireside, read with pleasure 
the date of the coming comet or eclipse, and witness their return 
with delight — phenomena that a few centuries back filled the 



AS AN ED UCA TOR. 7 9 

world with alarm and made piety ridiculous — and all the time 
they will exclaim: "What good has education ever done?" 

To reason with such beings is to abuse the high prerogative 
of reason ; to crouch to them and fawn upon them, as we have 
been in the habit of doing from fear of their wrath against our 
beloved institutions, is to inspire madness with confidence, and 
place a sword in its hand to destroy us. I have only to say to 
them (and there is neither irony nor satire in the remark) that if 
they verily believe that ignorance is a virtue and intelligence a 
vice, they should remove to the land of the Hottentots or make 
schools of their kitchens. Their infatuation would be a matter 
of but little moment, were it not for its indirect effects upon the 
march of mind. But some of these men have children of splen- 
did native endowments — endowments which, with proper cult- 
ure and under a proper direction, would make them lights of 
the world, the pride of their country, the glory of their State, 
the boast of their parents; but their light is shrouded in their 
father's darkness, and it is either never seen or seen only in oc- 
casional flashes of grog-shop wit or in miserable prostitution in 
the sharper's keenness. This aspect of the evil turns indigna- 
tion into sadness and contempt into grief. 

But whatever may have been the influence of these cham- 
pions of ignorance in times past, they are now harmless except 
to their own progeny. A race of better spirits has risen up, 
who perceive that all that is dear to the Christian, the philan- 
thropist, the patriot; and the statesman is involved in the moral 
and intellectual improvement of the people. Accordingly, we 
see them from their pwn resources erecting schools and col- 
leges in all quarters of the State; and, what is equally gratify- 
ing, we see some of the most promising young men of the State, 
and the sons of some of the most distinguished men of the State, 
taking places in these institutions as preceptors. I rejoice with 
joy unspeakable at this state of things. I rejoice that the gifted 
sons of the soil begin to discover that there are other and more 
useful fields of labor for talent at this time than the forum or 
Senate-house. I rejoice that I have lived to see the dawn, or 
rather the return, of that patriotism which looks to the perma- 
nent good of the country more than to the momentary triumph 
of a party, which prefers the chaplet that a grateful posterity 
weaves around their benefactor's shrine to the brightest garland 
that withers with the wearer's cheek and is buried in the wear- 
er's grave. In hoary old age, it is lovely; in youth's vigor and 
ambition's noonday, it is morally sublime. ' 

If the people will but sustain these institutions until they can 
sustain themselves, and the rising genius of the State will shed 



80 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

their light upon them, I venture the prediction that in less than 
twenty years hence Georgia will be one of the most richly 
adorned of the whole sisterhood of the States. But if the gen- 
erosity which produced them is to spend itself in one short gust, 
and they are to be left to wither away and die, far better that 
they had never been thought of. They will be viewed not mere- 
ly as sad memorials of the fickleness of the age, but as ridicu- 
lous monuments of the knight-errantry of the age. Specters 
will be conjured up from their deserted chambers to alarm the 
patrons of science from the first movement in their sacred of- 
fice; avarice will retreat behind their walls from the im- 
portunities of benevolence, and ignorance will point to them in 
triumph as veritable fulfillments of her malignant prophecies. 
If there be not public spirit enough in the land to sustain them, 
I trust an overruling Providence will inspire it. If the means be 
wanting, I trust that a beneficent Providence will grant them. 

Gentlemen of the Faculty, could any thing quiet the anxiety 
and remove the self-distrust which I feel in entering upon the 
duties of my appointment, it would be the close fellowship into 
which it brings me with you. We are no strangers to each 
other; our hearts were drawn together by the ties of a common 
faith long before we met in person, and they have been more 
closely united by repeated intercourse, social and sacred, since. 
They are now, I flatter myself, to be indissolubly cemented by 
feelings, views, pursuits, and interests which are in all respects 
identical. In such a fraternity nothing is to be feared from pre- 
rogative on the one hand or disaffection on the other. As you 
have been tried and approved in your offices and I have not in 
mine, as you have the advantage of experience in instruction 
and I have not, it becomes me to wait your views upon our com- 
mon duties before I offer mine. I have therefore only to say 
that as I have been placed headmost in position you shall find 
me foremost in meeting the responsibilities that may attach to a 
faithful- discharge of those duties. 

Young gentlemen, if the concurring testimony of all whom 
I have heard speak of you from personal observation is to be 
credited, no preceptor ever had better reason to be proud of his 
charge than I have. Your morality, your industry, your stabil- 
ity, your cheerful submission to all the rules of the institution 
are everywhere spoken of in terms of the highest praise. If I 
had been permitted to demand the surest guaranty of the suc- 
cess of our infant seminary that I could have conceived of, I 
should have said: "Let my four first classes fulfill the description 
that has been given of you." The first classes of a college gives 
it its first and most important character, and each succeeding 



AS AN ED UCA TOR. 8 1 

class feels itself in a measure the fiduciary of that character. 
Men usually regard a trust as more sacred than their own prop- 
erty, and accordingly we sometimes see them prodigal of their 
own and careful of another's, but we rarely see them squander- 
ing both at the same time. There is another principle of human 
nature which is turned to good account by good example. Those 
who care but little at being thought vicious are commonly ex- 
tremely averse to being thought more vicious than their com- 
panions. In other words, vice hates unfriendly comparisons 
more than it does its own deformity. Hence we seldom see it 
treading immediately upon the heels of virtue. It is only in 
times of tumult and excitement, when public attention is dis- 
tracted, that it ventures to take the seat which virtue has just 
vacated. It is easy, too, to heal a diseased member when the 
whole body is sound, but almost impossible to heal the body that 
is diseased throughout. These considerations, with others which 
I have not time to suggest, made me extremely anxious that my 
first classes should be of the character which you so honorably 
bear. By your regard for your Alma Mater, your preceptors, 
your country, your parents, but most of all, yourselves, I con- 
jure you to maintain it! We are upon a well-aimed expedient, 
young gentlemen, the success or failure of which will depend 
mainly upon yourselves. It is to unite mental and manual la- 
bor in indissoluble bonds and to consecrate the union with the 
spotless robes of piety ; to elevate manual labor to its legitimate 
rank by blending it with mental endowments which shall com- 
mand ior it respect; to strengthen and invigorate the body, the 
better to endure tne waste of mind in its most restless pursuits; 
to raise up a race of men who shall be fitted for the pulpit or the 
plow, the court or the camp, the Senate or the shop — who, like 
one of your professors, shall be able to live, and to live reputably 
and usefully, on the banks of the Rhine or the banks of the Al- 
covi; to form an American, or at least a Georgian character, 
which shall combine all that is useful and brilliant on the other 
side of the water with all that is sacred and generous on this. 
Such is our system of education, and such are its aims. I am 
told that it has failed in other latitudes where it has been tried, 
and that it is now generally considered impracticable. I rejoice 
that I am placed where I can daily mark its operation. I desire 
to know why it is that a system which is so beautiful in theory 
should be abortive in practice. The defect cannot be in the sys- 
tem. I defy the most subtle ingenuity to give a plausible rea- 
son why the youth who turns the sod two hours to-day may not 
turn the classic page four hours to-morrow. For more than 
three years of my pupilage nearly all the fuel that was consumed 
6 



82 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

upon my hearth was cut from the woods by my room-mates and 
myself and borne a fatiguing distance to our door. Nor were 
we chary of our stores; but "ligna super foco large repo- 
nensP We often followed four hours' toil in this way by five 
hours' study on the same evening. What was my lot was the lot 
of a hundred and sixty more, among whom were a Gilmer, a 
McDuffie, and a Legare; and these were successors in school 
and, for aught I know, in toil of a Crawford, a Calhoun, a Cobb, 
and many other distinguished sons of the South. It did not oc- 
cur to us that the exercise of our limbs impaired the faculties of 
our minds. I repeat it, the fault cannot be in the system ; it 
must be in parents, preceptors, or pupils ; and there can be no 
difficulty in giving it its proper location, if a very generally re- 
ceived opinion be true — namely, "that the manual labor system 
will do very well for schools, but will not do for colleges." If 
so, the conclusion is inevitable that manual labor will not do for 
colleges because collegians will not do manual labor. Schools 
and colleges are composed of precisely the same individuals, 
changed only in age and size. Why can they pass creditably 
through the school, and not continue their onward course through 
college? There is but one answer to this question, and it is so 
discreditable to the youth of the country that I know not wheth- 
er I would give it if it had any application to those whom I am 
addressing. It is this: that the discipline of the first is addressed 
to the physical, and of the last to the moral sensibilities of the 
student; it succeeds in the one case because he must bear and 
stay, and fails in the other because he will not bear and goes 
away. Can it be possible that just at that point of time when 
the student begins to see the true end and aim of college duties 
and exercises, when his own enlightened understanding should 
supersede all discipline, when verging upon man's estate he 
should assume the port and bearing of a man, when coming 
upon the confines of a busy world he sees over all its broad sur- 
face industry rewarded and indolence despised, can it be possi- 
ble that he will forfeit his high privileges, wound his parents, 
and abuse himself rather than perform a short service of health- 
ful, useful, instructive bodily labor? Such fatuity can be ac- 
counted for only upon the supposition that one of "the first con- 
ceptions of manhood in this country is that it is disgraceful to 
labor. I know that this opinion is to be found in some older 
heads than are to be found in college classes; but from the birth 
of Cincinnatus to the death of Washington I never heard of the 
truly wise republican who harbored it even for a moment. No, 
young gentlemen, it is an exotic imported hither from the land 
where rank comes by chance, dignity by blood, and fortune by 



AS AN EDUCATOR. S3 

law. It may be harmless in its indigenous soil ; but here it is the 
upas, and by as much as we propagate it by so much do we 
spread moral and political death through the land. I stop not 
to give examples of its influence, though I hold many at com- 
mand, deduced chiefly from our larger cities, where it prevails 
most. I turn not aside to trace it to its many disastrous conse- 
quences, but I ask can any thing be more dangei*ously absurd 
than to disperse the father's property at his death and then teach 
his children that it is disgraceful to labor? Consider the ques- 
tion, young gentlemen, and when you are so doing remember 
that you are in a country whose besetting sin is idolatry of 
wealth, and the youngest of you will perceive and admit the 
soundness of my views upon the subject. We believe that 
for great achievements in the scientific world the artisan and the 
scholar must meet, and often meet in the same person. The 
distinction which has been kept up between them has retarded 
the march of mind for centuries. To the accidental union of 
them in Galileo are we indebted for nearly all that we know of 
the stupendous worlds that wheel around us. He opened the 
way for a mighty Newton's march, and for a host of followers 
who have extended his researches and improved his discoveries. 
Had the first been wanting in mechanical skill, he and his brill- 
iant successors might have died unknown, or have been known 
only as infants in the field where they figured as giants. But 
Galileo owed his fairest fame to a spectacle-maker, and he his to 
an observant boy. Had the parents of that mechanic been too 
proud to bind him to a trade, or the parents of that boy been too 
proud to have placed him with a mechanic, we might now be 
beating drums to frighten away an eclipse, or sacrificing heca- 
tombs to appease the wrath of a comet. What was Fulton's 
genius unassisted by Fulton's hands? Are you more indebted 
to the author whom you study than to the mechanic who makes 
easy his principles and impresses them permanently upon the 
memory by sensible illustrations? Are you more indebted to the 
geometrician than you are to the manufacturer of the theodolite 
or compass. The invaluable quadrant of Godfrey — I say God- 
frey for he deserves, though Hadley has gained, the credit of it — 
the quadrant is but a practical application of one of Euclid's 
theorems; but which has benefited the world most, the demon- 
strator of the one or the inventor of the other? And what were 
all of them together without the husbandman ? In truth, almost 
all that is grand or useful in the arts and sciences has been from 
the accidental combination of learning with mechanical skill; 
and when we consider how often and how long they have been 
divorced by the senseless decrees of public opinion, we may safe- 



84 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

\y conclude that even now Ave know nothing in comparison with 
what we would have known had thej always been closely united 
and equally respected. Away, then, with those worse than idle 
distinctions between trades and professions! Let it have no 
place in this country at least, until we learn to live without 
houses, clothes, or food. 

Do not suppose, young gentlemen, that I am taxing my in- 
genuity for arguments to reconcile you to a life of useless 
drudgery. You cannot entertain such an idea without doing in- 
justice both to your teachers and your parents. We are but 
their servants; they are our acquaintances, our friends, our 
brethren. They place you here with a full knowledge of the 
duties which you have to perform and in the expectation that 
you will be required to perform them. We gain nothing by a 
faithful discharge of those duties on your part but the satisfac- 
tion which arises from a consciousness of fidelity to our trust. 
If they result in all the advantages to you that we can anticipate, 
our reward will only be the gleam that comes by reflection from 
your renown. It is impossible, therefore, that we can desire, 
much less delight in your mortification or fatigue. The best 
heads in the land perceive that to fulfill the high destiny which 
our forefathers marked out for us we must be an intelligent, 
moral, industrious people. The system of education adopted in 
this college is directed to these three grand objects; and accord- 
ingly, from the time that our disciples enter the preparatory 
school to the time when they take leave of the college halls, 
they must bear this text upon their phyacteries: Exercise of 

HEAD, HEART, AND HAND ONE AND INSEPARABLE! While thev 

retain their ensign, we cherish and esteem them ; when they doi'f 
it, we bid them a final but sorrowing adieu. But ever remem- 
ber, young gentlemen, that though your interest is much more 
deeply involved in the discipline to which we subject you than 
ours, even your interest is not its primary aim, but your coun- 
try's. In one man, already named, the virtues just alluded to 
twice saved his country ; and they may do no less in you. Nay, 
a voice from the capital which is incessantly ringing in mine 
ear reminds me that in you they may perform far nobler serv- 
ices than they did in Cincinnatus — that they may not only save 
your country from her enemies, but save your household friends 
from your country. If they do not this much they may, and 
probably will, retard the ruin of your country. But if even to 
this extent they prove unavailing — if the vices which overthrew 
the republics of antiquity, assisted as they are likely to be in 
your day by the angry elements that are gathering around your 
sacred homes, should entirely overpower you, thev will at "least 



AS AN EDUCATOR. S$ 

exhibit you in the closing scene of American glory and grand- 
eur in an aspect as sublime as the eagle on the storm that rides 
in proud defiance before the blast that he cannot resist and 
strikes with strong wing the tempest that hurries him away. 

I have dwelt thus long and thus earnestly upon the distinct- 
ive feature in our discipline because I believe it to be a most 
important feature, and because I believe you can, if you will, 
preserve it. In conclusion of this branch of my subject permit 
me to say that if when you shall have reached the meridian of 
life any one of you having a reputable standing in the commu- 
nity shall complain of the toil to which we now subject you, I 
venture in the name of the Faculty to solicit him to write "Ty- 
rant" upon their tombs, and " Tyrant of Tyrants' 1 '' on the tomb 
of your speaker, and let no man efface the inscription. 

A few remarks upon a subject of deep interest to yourselves 
and to me, and I will have done. The man lives not who more 
earnestly desires the success of the literary institutions of the 
State than I do; but censoriousness itself will excuse me now 
for having one favorite. I desire that it may rank with the first, 
if it may not be the first in rank. It is with you to say whether 
my wish shall be gratified or not, and you may make the decis- 
ion before you leave your seats. It will be made when you re- 
solve unchangeably that you will not defame the institution by 
those youthful follies which are vulgarly denominated "the 
tricks of college boys." "College boys" sounds to my ear like 
"veteran babes' 1 '' — the " tricks of college boys " like the " follies of 
profound wisdom." College is not the place for boys, nor are 
collegians the characters for tricks; and yet it must be confessed 
that there are some in all colleges who fulfill this paradoxical 
description; and so doing, they spread more pestilence among 
their companions, interrupt the harmony that would naturally 
subsist between preceptor and pupil, and sully their own fame, 
perhaps forever. When they cannot find accessories among 
their fellows, they obtrude their delinquencies upon the notice 
of their more sober and studious companions, and thus involve 
them in the painful, tantalizing alternative of becoming inform- 
ers or of being unjustly suspected. This consideration alone 
should deter every student who has a spark of magnanimity in his 
composition from a breach of college rules, or at least from vio- 
lating them in the presence of those who will not become accom- 
plices. But he who has not self-respect enough to abstain from 
evil has rarely magnanimity enough to confess it even to save the 
honor of his friend. And what are those delinquencies which are 
followed by these and often by worse consequences ? Such as in 
nine cases out of ten are as barren of interest to the perpetrator 



86 JUDGE LGNGSTREET. 

as the}' are annoying to all connected with him. Such as the 
vilest character that ever disgraced a college would not commit 
if he would but seriously ask himself the question beforehand: 
"What gratification do I promise myself from this perilous ad- 
venture?" I have seen a w/en> of college rebels just returned 
from one of their midnight achievements. They laughed tri- 
umphantly , and the arch-felon loudest of all; but one with half 
an eye might have 6een that his mirth was forced, and theirs 
was hj-pocrisy scarcely veiled. He was prodigal of his wit and 
garrulous beyond measure, and his companions gave him a 
cold word or sickly smile of approbation ; but a child might have 
discovered that all this was but the struggle of the lips with the 
counsels of the heart. What resistless spell was upon them that 
they should sin without the pleasure of sin? Perhaps at that 
moment the father of the arch-offender, after having trimmed 
again and again the midnight lamp in order to give his son a 
liberal education, had bowed himself in prayer and with a de- 
votion warmed by a father's love was imploring God's bless- 
ing upon his far distant son, while his bosom friend at his side 
embalmed the petition in her tears. O had the arm of the Om- 
nipotent whom they were addressing just then drawn aside the 
veil that hid their son from their eyes, how quick would their 
devotion have been drowned in a shriek of horror and despair! 
Young gentlemen, let the foible of which I have been speaking 
have no place in this institution. Assume a moral dignity in 
keeping with your age and your position. Let not those heads 
of families who have gathered round this fountain of science 
in order that their sons may enjoy its benefits, who offer sus- 
tenance to your bodies while you are enriching your minds, 
who will welcome you to their habitations as friends and to a 
seat in their affections as brethren if you will permit them to 
do so — let them not have reason to dread you as marauders or 
recoil from you as vipers. Finally, if you would be all that 
your parents, your preceptors, and your friends could desire; if 
you would honor yourselves, your country, and this institution, 
regulate your conduct by the code divine. This will lead 
you creditably through college, usher you reputably into the 
world, bear you triumphantly through its collisions, and cheer 
the hour of your departure from it. That hour may be much 
nearer the present than you suppose. There is a ruthless De- 
stroyer that ever besets the pathway of life. lie sometimes 
steps between the cradle and the school, the school and the col- 
lege, the college and the world. At some period of time all 
must meet him, and all \x\\o meet him fall before his unsparing 
arm. Those whom he strikes fall and are forever falling, or 



AS AN ED UCA TOR. 87 

rise again and are forever rising. He may, therefore, be the 
worst foe or the best friend of man ; and he is the one or the 
other according to the character against which he raises his fatal 
shaft. How important is it then that all, both young and old, 
take heed lest they should be surprised in an unfortunate char- 
acter by this deadly foe! But potent and implacable as he is, 
he was once conquered; and the Victor bequeathed the spoils of 
victory to all the sons of Adam, upon the simple condition that 
they take upon them his yoke, which is easy, and his burden, 
which is light. This done, and his rewards are for every woe, a 
balm for every wound in this life, and life and joy and peace 
eternal in the world to come. There may I be permitted to 
meet you, and in transport to exclaim: " Here am I, Lord, and 
the children whom thou hast given me!" 



LONGSTREET THE HUMORIST. 



It would have jarred upon Judge Longstreet's 
feeling had he been told while living that he 
would be most widely known and remembered 
longest by his " Georgian Scenes." Later in life 
he spoke of that volume as a mere bagatelle, the 
pastime of more youthful days. He thought he had 
outgrown it, or grown away from it, but the vein 
of its humor runs through all the writings of his 
life, barely traceable in some places and boldly de- 
fined in others. The fidelity of these sketches to 
nature is recognized by every reader who has any 
knowledge of the people and time of whom and 
of which he wrote. Many of them are coarse: 
they would have been untrue to life had the}- been 
otherwise. They are tinged with profanity; the 
skill of the sketcher is seen in the fact that it is 
only a tinge that hints at a profaneness of speech 
among reputable people now scarcely credible. On 
their first appearance they were recognized as mas- 
ter-pieces of their kind, and thousands of Georgia 
homes re-echoed with the mirth they provoked. 
The sketches were written at an age when all en- 
joyment is most intense, and the intense zest of the 
writer is caught by the reader. In 'such sketches 
as "The Morse Swap,"" "The Gander Pulling.'" 
and "The Shooting Match '" you almost hear the 
laughter of the crowd at the broader passages of 
(88) 



LONGSTREET THE HUMORIST. 89 

coarse, rollicking fun, while you see the smile that 
plays over the features of the author in the lighter 
and subtler touches that now and then give a spe- 
cial charm to his page. True humor is never whol- 
ly separated from genuine pathos, and there are 
pathetic touches in "Georgia Scenes " that go 
straight to the heart. 

The dialect is perfectly rendered — a dialect that 
yet lingers in some parts of rural Georgia. The 
dialogue exhibits the perfect art that conceals art. 
The dramatic instinct was possessed by Judge 
Longstreet in no small degree. Every character 
he sketches is consistent with itself. 

If asked why the " Georgia Scenes" have not 
been more widely known, it might be hard to give 
a satisfactory answer. Is it because of their intense 
provincialism ? That these sketches have seeming- 
ly lost ground even in Georgia and the South will 
be difficult of explanation to all who have enjoyed 
the pleasure of reading them. A partial explana- 
tion may be found in the fact that the types por- 
trayed in them are vanishing ones. This may be 
saying indirectly that they lack the quality that 
makes them akin to all humanity, and which is 
stamped only upon the creations of genius of the 
very highest order. This may be so, but it is safe 
to predict that the " Georgia Scenes " will be 
laughed over in the homes of our people long after 
many a more pretentious book now popular shall 
have sunk beneath the sluggish waters of the sea 
of oblivion. 

A scene in the United States House of Repre- 
sentatives during a long a'nd bitter sectional debate 



go JUDGE L0NG3TREET. 

that followed the Civil War may be given here by 
way of illustration. Upon one occasion the Dem- 
ocratic members of the House had determined to 
remain silent in a discussion full of the material of 
party passion and sectional resentments, which 
they did not wish stirred up. A distinguished 
Republican member from a North-eastern State 
made a violent and inflammatory assault upon the 
Democratic members, taunting them with a cow- 
ardly silence, in his frenzy of excitement pacing 
the aisle and shaking his fists at the Democrats, 
challenging them to come out and show their col- 
ors, and make a fight for the position they occu- 
pied. Mr. S. S. Cox, of New York, asked if he 
could interrupt the gentleman for a few moments. 
"With great pleasure; I will be glad to hear 
from you," replied the infuriated orator. Mr. 
Cox sent up to the clerk's desk a volume of Long- 
street's " Georgia Scenes," with the request that 
he would read from the page marked. The clerk 
read "The Lincolnton Rehearsal" amid the most 
tumultuous laughter and applause, in which the 
whole body, Democrats and Republicans alike, 
united. This sketch is given here: 

A Lincoln County Rehearsal. 

If my memory fail me not, the ioth of June, 1S09, 
found me, at about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, as- 
cending a long and gentle slope in what was called 
the " Dark Corner " of Lincoln. I believe it took 
its name from the moral darkness which reigned 
over that portion of the county at the time of which 
I am speaking. Tt in this point of view it was but 






LONGS TREET THE HUMOR/ST. 



9 1 



a shade darker than the rest of the county, it was 
inconceivably dark. If any man can name a trick 
or sin which had not been committed at the time 
of which I am speaking, in the very focus of all 
the county's illumination - (Lincolnton), he must 
himself be the most inventive of the tricky and the 
very Judas of sinners. Since that time, however 
(all humor aside), Lincoln has become a living 
proof "that light shineth. in darkness." Could I 
venture to mingle the solemn with the ludicrous, 
even for the purposes of honorable contrast, I could 
adduce from this county instances of the most nu- 
merous and wonderful transitions from vice and 
folly to virtue and holiness which have ever, per- 
haps, been witnessed since the days of the apostolic 
ministry. So much, lest it should be thought by 
some that what I am about to relate is characteristic 
of the county in which it occurred. 

Whatever may be said of the moral condition of 
the "Dark Corner" at the time just mentioned, 
its natural condition was any thing but dark. It 
smiled in all the charms of spring; and spring bor- 
rowed a new charm from its undulating grounds, 
its luxuriant woodlands, its sportive streams, its 
vocal birds, and its blushing flowers. 

Rapt with the enchantment of the season and 
the scenery around me, I was slowly rising the 
slope when I was startled by loud, profane, and 
boisterous voices which seemed to proceed from a 
thick covert of undergrowth about two hundred 
yards in advance of me and about one hundred 
to the right of my road. 

" You kin, kin you? " 



92 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" Yes, I kin, and am able to do it ! Boo-oo-oo ! 
O, wake snakes, and walk your chalks! Brim- 
stone and fire! Don't hold me, Nick Sto- 

vall! The fight's made up, and let's go at it. 

my soul if I don't jump down his throat and 

gallop every chitterling out of him before you can 
say ' quit ! ' " 

" Now, Nick, don't hold him ! Jist let the wild- 
cat come, and I'll tame him. Ned'll see me a fair 
fight; won't you, Ned? " 

" O, yes; I'll see you a fair fight, blast my old 
shoes if I don't." 

" That's sufficient, as Tom Haynes said when he 
saw the elephant; now let him come." 

Thus they went on, with countless oaths inter- 
spersed which I dare not even hint at, and with 
much that I could not distinctly hear. 

"In mercy's name," thought I, "what band of 
ruffians has selected this holy season and this heav- 
enly retreat for such pandemonian riots? I quick- 
ened my gait, and had come nearly opposite to 
the thick grove whence the noise proceeded 
when my eye caught indistinctly and at intervals 
through the foliage of the dwarf oaks and hickories 
which intervened glimpses of a man or men who 
seemed to be in a violent struggle, and I could oc- 
casionally catch those deep-drawn, emphatic oaths 
which men in conflict utter when they deal blows. 
I dismounted and hurried to the spot with all speed. 
I had overcome about half the space which sepa- 
rated it from me when I saw the combatants come 
to the ground, and after a short struggle I saw the 
uppermost one (fori could not see the other) make 



LONGSTREET THE HUMORIST. 93 

a heavy plunge with both his thumbs, and at the 
same instant I heard a cry in the accent of keenest 
torture: " Enough! My eye's out! " 

I was so completely horror-struck that I stood 
transfixed for a moment to the spot where the cry 
met me. The accomplices in the hellish deed 
which had been perpetrated had all fled at my ap- 
proach; at least I supposed so, for they were not 
to be seen. 

"Now, blast your corn-shucking soul," said the 
victor (a youth about eighteen years old) as he rose 
from the ground, " come cutt'n your shines 'bout 
me ag'in next time I come to the court-house, will 
you ! Get your owl-eye in ag'in if you can ! " 

At this moment he saw me for the first time. 
He looked excessively embarrassed, and was mov- 
ing off when I called to him in a tone emboldened 
by the sacredness of my office and the iniquity of 
his crime, " Come back, you brute, and assist me 
in relieving your fellow-mortal whom you have 
ruined forever." 

My rudeness subdued his embarrassment in an 
instant, and with a taunting curl of the nose he re- 
plied: "You needn't kick before you're spurr'd. 
There an't nobody there, nor ha'n't been, nother. 
I was jist seein' how I could 'a' _/<?«/." So saying, 
he bounded to his plow, which stood in the corner 
of the fence about fifty yards beyond the battle- 
ground. 

And, would you believe it, gentle reader, his re- 
port was true. All that I had heard and seen was 
nothing more nor less than a Lincoln rehearsal, in 
which the youth who had just left me had played 



94 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

all the parts of all the characters in a court-house 
fight. 

I went to the ground from which he had risen, 
and there were the prints of his two thumbs, 
plunged up to the balls in the mellow earth, about 
the distance of a man's eyes apart, and the ground 
around was broken up as if two stags had been en- 
gaged upon it. Hall. 

The orator did not resume his remarks. 






RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 



The political sky was full of baleful portents 
when Judge Longstreet assumed the presi- 
dency of South Carolina College, at Columbia, 
S. C, in 1858. The ]ong sectional conflict was 
then rapidly approaching its crisis and catastro- 
phe. The elements of combustion that had been 
gathering during two generations were nearing the 
inevitable explosion. That explosion was inevi- 
table: existing conditions that could not be ig- 
nored, and the instincts of human nature that 
could not be changed, made the collision a cer- 
tainty. Only a miracle of God could have averted 
it. His miracles are wrought only through moral 
agents that are willing to be used by him. The 
free agency of the miracle-worker and that of its 
beneficiary alike are respected in the exercise of 
Amighty power and goodness. The day of God's 
power and the day of his people's willingness syn- 
chronize forever. Sectional passion raged. The 
people were drunk with it. The conservatives and 
compromisers who sought by this or that expedi- 
ent to allay or delay the bursting of the tempest 
were swept like straw before the whirlwind. Clay, 
Webster, Crittenden, Douglas, and the other great 
leaders who pleaded for peace between the sections 
were either dead or had been voted down. The 
Churches were unhappily drawn into the vortex, 

(95) 



96 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

and the pulpit in many places re-echoed the battle- 
cries of the hustings. The moral issue involved in 
the slavery question invested the struggle with the 
sacredness of a holy crusade on the one side, and 
questions of constitutional right, property interest, 
and political equality gave it the character of a 
death-struggle for all that Anglo-Saxon freemen 
hold dearest on the other. We who look at this 
controversy in the perspective of three short dec- 
ades are amazed at the bitterness of the good 
men of both sides who were in the thick of it. 
The best-balanced and most peace-loving patriots, 
North and South, with some remarkable excep- 
tions, were unable to resist the tide that was sweep- 
ing the country into war. Even the Peace Society, 
whose head-quarters were at Boston, took a prac- 
tical recess from Fort Sumter to Appomattox. 

Judge Longstreet in his political opinions was a 
representative Southerner; and, in the firmness of 
his Christian faith, in the kindliness of his heart, 
the breadth of his sympathies, and the purity of 
his motives as a patriot and a Christian, may be 
taken as a representative of the great body of the 
Christian men of the South. He thought and felt 
as the majority of his fellow-citizens did at that 
time. How he thought and felt will be seen from 
his Baccalaureate Address delivered at the Univer- 
sity of South Carolina for the year 1S59. The 
time, the place, the man, make it notable. It is 
like a vivid flash of lightning revealing the storm 
that was darkening over the heavens. Some of 
the readers of to-day will be able to enter into the 
spirit of this politico-educational deliverance. 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 97 

Baccalaureate Address Delivered at the University of 
South Carolina to the Graduating Class of 1859. 

Gentlemen: I am not sure but that what I am about to say to 
you will be regarded as encroachment upon the politician's do- 
main, for in this age of novelty and misnomers every thing that 
is discussed at the hustings, in the newspapers and legislative 
halls, is called politics; and those who discuss them are called 
politicians, and politicians claim to themselves the exclusive 
guardianship of the country's interest. Should I transcend the 
bounds which they have been pleased to prescribe to me, I hope 
they will impute my error to the infirmities of old age, or a mis- 
taken sense of my duty and privilege. 

You leave your Alma Mater for the world's bustling arena 
at the most portentous period of your country's history. It is a 
common remark that "man's extremity is God's opportunity;" 
and it may be that now, when all the elements of discord are 
astir from the Lakes to the Gulf, from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific, when the two great sections of the country are in hostile 
attitude upon grounds from which the one cannot and the other 
will not recede, when to man's dim vision all is discouraging in 
the present and dismal in the future, when the utter helpless- 
ness of man in the emergency is felt and acknowledged by all, 
God may interpose in our behalf, and lead us to peace and safe- 
ty by a way that we have not known. 

But if signs have not lost their import, and events their nat- 
ural order, we are upon the eve of a lamentable revolution — a 
revolution which the impartial historian will record with indig- 
nation, and all coming generations will read of with shame for 
the human race — which will stand forth as the most remark- 
able, the most astounding monument of human folly and infat- 
uation that ever disgraced the earth. The only hope of its 
fomenters to escape from the eternal sneers, contempt, derision, 
and maledictions of all the tribes of earth to come is that soon 
after the actors in it shall have passed away it will be regarded 
as purely fabulous that the greatest, the richest, the happiest, the 
holiest, the most Heaven-favored people on the globe, bound 
together by every tie that could endear man to his fellow-man, 
reciprocally dependent upon each other, reciprocally blessing 
each other, sustaining precisely the relations to each other 
which they sustained when they banded together in the full 
fruition of all the bounties of earth and all the blessings of 
heaven ; the pride of republics, the awe of tyrants, the admired 
of all, at the culminating point of their greatness, their glory, 
and their grandeur should have put at hazard their all for the 
sake of an abject race of negroes, who never knew freedom and 

7 



9 8 



JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 



never can maintain it, may well be regarded in time to come as 
utterly incredible. But so fanaticism will have it, and so let it 
be. The revolution is actually begun; and if you improve your 
opportunities and do your duty, you will have no insignificant 
part to play in it. Neutral you cannot be. Indeed, your posi- 
tion in it is already "assigned to you — forced upon you — and now 
your first inquiry should be whether you ought to maintain it, 
and your second whether you can maintain it. 

Upon these points allow me to give you the benefit of my 
experience and observation. I have marked the progress of 
that infatuation which has brought the country to its present 
crisis from its inception to the present moment, and I foretold 
its course and results as though I had been inspired. Its history 
is curious, and of direct bearing upon the proposed inquiries. 
Summon all your patience to go with me through it; and as we 
proceed, mark how all the laws of nature, of nations, of heaven, 
of morality, of comity, of decency, of humanity, and of self-re- 
spect have melted away, one after another, under the hot and 
fetid breath of Abolitionism. Until very lately there was not a 
man on the broad surface of the South who ever made a slave 
of a freeman or imported an African from his fatherland. Slav- 
ery with us is by inheritance and necessity. The sin of it, if it 
be sin, was entailed on us by the sires of those who are now 
crushing every thing to abolish it. Under such circumstances, 
what had we a right to expect from them? Why surely some 
such language as this: Slavery is either a blessing or a curse. If 
a blessing, God has overruled our sin to the benefit of the South, and 
let her enjoy it in peace. If a curse, %ve entailed it upon her, and let 
us not embitter it. Nothing like this escapes their lips. Standing 
upon the graves of their sires, with the profits of the slave trade 
in their pockets, they send forth their maledictions against us 
with as much self-satisfaction as the Pharisee felt in comparing 
himself with the publican. With the slavery of the South they 
have nothing to do. In this matter the States are as foreign to 
each other as England and Turkey. The Federal Government 
has but one office to perform in relation to it, and that is to pro- 
tect it. All intermeddling with it, therefore, by that govern- 
ment or the free States is an open breach of the law of nations. 
All appeals to that government to interfere with it are a direct 
attack upon the fundamental laws of the Confederacy. 

The Abolitionists commenced the development of their one 
idea by very modestly addressing our moral sense. They poured 
volumes upon us not only to convince us that we sinned griev- 
ously in holding slaves, but that we betrayed a lamentable igno- 
rance of our temporal interest in so doing; and for fear we 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 99 

would overlook their wholesome instruction, they infused it 
liberally in our school-books. Well, we set on foot a plan for 
the gradual emancipation of our slaves. You would suppose, 
would you not, that every Abolitionist at the North rallied to it 
with head and heart, and" hand and purse? Not so. They em- 
bodied themselves against it almost to a man, and they ultimate- 
ly defeated it. If opposed to sending slaves to Liberia, you 
would naturally suppose that they would open an asylum for 
them in their own domain. But no; they slam the door in their 
faces when they approach them with manumission papers in 
their hands. Even when they steal them, they do not foster 
them and help them to a living: they pack them off to the un- 
congenial regions of Canada. Their apology for throwing this 
houseless, penniless, shivering race upon a neighboring king- 
dom is that they might be recaptured by their owners in the 
United States; when, lo, they have so disciplined their people, 
and so molded their laws, that it is next to impossible for the 
owners to make reclamation, and as much as their lives are 
worth to attempt it. We ask them what they would have us do? 
and they answer, "Set your negroes free." What? Turn loose 
two or three millions of paupers among us — helpless old men 
and women, little children, blind, decrepid, diseased, and all? 
How will they live? "Give them the land they have so long 
cultivated for you." But they cannot eat land. " Then give 
them the crops they have made." But they must be clothed. 
"Well, do you clothe them." There are thousand and tens of 
thousands of negroes owned by minors. Who is to free them 
and furnish their outfit? " Let the adults do it." And what are 
we, our wives and children, our old, afflicted, and infirm to do? 
" Stay and work with your negroes, or go off in a body where 
you can do better." Now, gentlemen, would you suppose that 
any man on the face of the earth who does not covet the char- 
acter of a maniac without deserving his pity, and a place in bed- 
lam without deserving its charities, would propose such terms 
to any people above the grade of a Hottentot? And yet these 
are precisely the terms which the Abolitionists offer to us, and 
the only terms which will satisfy them; and because we cannot 
acquiesce in these terms, they are waging all kinds of warfare 
against us but honorable warfare. We must make our slaves 
free at an expense of seven hundred millions of dollars in slave 
property! We must give our land to these freemen, worth 
eight hundred millions more, and we must clothe these freemen 
at the expense of divers millions more; and then we must work 
their land (if they please) at our own expense, or move off to 
some place where hundreds of millions of acres are to be got 



IOO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

for nothing, and where we can live while rearing them upon 
nothing, and clothe ourselves with nothing, for we shall all be 
penniless! 

Almost every officer of the free States, and every officer of 
the Federal Government from those States, swears to support 
the Constitution of the United States. In this onslaught upon 
slavery multitudes of them violate the Constitution openly and 
unblushingly. How do they reconcile such conduct to their 
consciences? In two ways: 

i. They say that they act in obedience to a "higher law." 
Then they should not take the oath. Will God hold him guilt- 
less who voluntarily swears to do that which he thinks God 
forbids? 

2. They say that they perform the oath as they understand 
it. I supposed that if there Avas any thing settled in relation to 
oaths it was that they are to be performed not as he who takes 
them chooses to understand them, but as he knows the imposer 
of them expected him to perform them. 

When the Abolitionists found that we couid not be persuaded 
to change places with our slaves, they besieged Congress with 
petitions innumerable to assist them in their war upon slavery. 
And how did they justify these appeals to Congress to usurp 
powers that did not belong to it? Why, there is in the Consti- 
tution, which they so much despise, a clause which secures to 
every citizen the right of petition for redress of grievance — his 
own grievances, of course, and such as Congress can redress, 
and such as white men alone feel. None but an Abolitionist, 
reckless of the world's opinion of his understanding, would give 
the clause any other exposition. Not so, however, with him. 
As the clause will not stretch itself to fit him, he contracts him- 
self to fit the clause. He (of Massachusetts) gets aggrieved that 
there are millions of slaves in the United States, not one of 
Avhom he ever saw. He gets some hundreds of his clan to feel 
themselves aggrieved from the same cause; and they send their 
petitions to Congress, not to redress their self-inflicted griev- 
ances or the grievances of the slaves (for they feel none), but to 
curtail the privileges of all the whites of the South, slave-holders 
and non-slave-holders! In 1834 they were ready to shed their 
blood in defense of this " sacred right of petition," as they called 
it. When South Carolina nullified the tariff laws by which they 
fattened and we suffered, she was denounced throughout the 
Union, and by none so insultingly as the New England States. 
Some of them I know, and all of them I believe, have nullified 
the slave laws; and while many praise them for it. hardly an 
indignant voice is raised against them, even in the South. 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. ioi 

Their undisguised efforts have been for many years to con- 
fine the slaves and their masters within as narrow limits as pos- 
sible. For what? Why, that, as the population of both in- 
creases, they may want the means of subsistence. What would 
be the inevitable effect of this slave-loving project? Why, as 
they approached the starving-point, the slaves would be worked 
the harder and fed the less. They would perish by thousands, 
or rebel and be butchered by tens of thousands; or, at best, the 
whites would move off in a body, and leave them in their igno- 
rance and poverty to starve on a wasted soil, without govern- 
ment, without law, without help, without hope. If bandits and 
pirates would not shudder at such a project, they are worse than 
I take them to be. 

Time will not serve me to enumerate the various concessions 
that we have made to those insatiable harpies, and which, as a 
cover-shame, we dignified with the name of "compromises." 
Suffice it to say that every concession has but encouraged and 
aggravated aggression. Not a solitary pledge given by them 
or implied in these compromises have they ever faithfully re- 
deemed. 

When the Mexican war was waged, they sympathized with 
Mexico; but as soon as golden California was won by Southern 
toil and Southern blood, they pounced upon it and rushed it into 
the Union as a free State against all the forms of law, all the 
usages of the country, and all the claims of justice. 

So much for these people in the realms of moral and munici- 
pal law. Let us now follow them into the more sacred precincts 
of the law divine. God doomed his own peculiar people to ab- 
ject slavery for four hundred years. They say that slavery is 
the sum of all villainies. God said: "Thou shalt not covet thy 
neighbor 's wife, nor any thing that is thy neighbors, nor his ox, nor 
his ass, nor his man-servant , nor his maid-servant." They say that 
the Constitution which recognizes slavery as a legitimate insti- 
tution (and of course any other record that does) is a " league 
with death and a covenant with hell." They acknowledge, I 
suppose, that to covet a slave is a sin ; but to steal him they re- 
gard as a virtue, and boast of it. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 
were slave-holders; and they are all now in heaven, our Saviour 
being witness. They say that no slave-holder is worthy of 
Church-membership — i. e., of being a spiritual child of Abraham 
— and necessarily no slave-holdej can get to heaven. Our Sav- 
iour healed a master's slave, and said of the owner: '■'■I have not 
found so great faith, no, not in Israel." They say (virtually) that a 
slave-holder cannot have saving faith. An angel from heaven 
sent back a fugitive slave to her mistress. Paul sent back a fugi- 



102 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

tive to his master, hailing the master as a brother beloved. They 
indict their own citizen as a culprit for doing the self-same thing. 
Christ rebuked Peter for drawing a sword in defense of his 
person. He scourged out the dealers and money-changers from 
the temple. How must he have regarded the scene in the North 
Church of New Haven? There, under the presidency of one of 
his professed ministers, were assembled preachers, professors, 
Christians, students, women. With a levity which the sanctity 
of the place and his calling should have banished, the head of 
the assembly opens a subscription for rifles to be used upon their 
countrymen in Kansas. The spirit of the head pervades the as- 
sembly, and amidst laughter, plaudits, and shocking pleasantries 
the subscription proceeds. They all subscribe, even the wom- 
en; while Henry Ward Beecher puns upon the name of Killam 
as befitting the work in hand. Benjamin Silliman, a renowned 
professor, invites his disciples to come by classes and imitate his 
example in the cold-blooded murder plot. All this they did to 
drive slave-holders from the common territory of the States, and 
this they call "the defense of freedom." Remember that such 
subscriptions as these began before there were any " border ruf- 
fians." Paul and Peter teach obedience of slaves to their mas- 
ters; they teach revolt of slaves against their masters. And how 
do they reconcile their conduct and professions of religion with 
these Scriptures? In three ways: I. By taking a horror-fit and 
insulting the man who quotes them. 2. By giving false ver- 
sions to Scripture that were never heard of or thought of before 
their day. 3. By making the general precepts of the Bible 
qualify or abrogate the special precepts. Who ever heard of 
this rule of construction before the rise of Abolitionism? Hus- 
bands, love your wives; wives, submit yourselves to your husbands; 
children, obey your parents ; masters, give unto your servants what is 
just and equal; servants, be obedient to your masters; let as many 
servants as are under the yoke count their masters worthy of all hon- 
or. All these special precepts, directed particularly to the private 
relations, they regard as repealed or qualified by the general 
precept, whatsoever you would that men should do to you do you even 
so to them. This is exactly reversing the rule of interpretation 
adopted by all who lay claim to common sense and common 
honesty. But suppose tneir version to be right; Christ com- 
mends the people of the South to obey the golden rule, and they 
disobey it. Has he commissioned these mitered vandals, those 
frolicsome priests, these recruiting professors, these Jezebel 
women, or any of the same stripe, to enforce his commands by 
plunder, robbery, or assassination? Does it require the free of 
the world to force the slaves of the world to freedom? 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 103 

It was in Kansas, under such teachers as were gathered in 
the North Church, that John Brown graduated. Having com- 
pleted his butcheries in Kansas, with the help of British and 
American incendiaries, he concocts a grand government of 
which he is to be the head and commander in chief. It is ex- 
ceedingly simple in its structure and remarkably single in its 
aim. It was to place secret emissaries in all the Southern States 
to stir up revolt among the negroes. They were to be armed 
and privileged to take from their owners such movables, money, 
and provisions as would make their trip to Canada, or a free 
State, comfortable if they found it necessary to elope, but they 
were not to kill anybody provided they were not resisted; but if 
resisted, then they were to kill at pleasure. Gen. Brown takes 
the initiative in his new government, and he selects Virginia, the 
land where Massachusetts found her ablest advocate in council, 
and her ablest general in the field when she most needed her 
services, as the theater of his operations. From the moment he 
first trod the soil of Virginia to the outburst he was a living im- 
personation of hypocrisy, duplicity, treachery, and falsehood. 
He entered the State as a peaceful citizen ; he was a disguised 
enemy. He bought land in her vicinity as a miner; he was an 
underminer. He groped about as if upon his pretended busi- 
ness; he was upon the work of a demon. He had packages sent 
to him under false labels as mining implements; they were im- 
plements of death for slaves to use upon their masters. You 
know the rest. This ruthless monster, this night prowler, this 
alarmist of sleeping women and children, this vagrant husband, 
this unnatural father, this complotter with aliens against his 
countrymen, this robber, this traitor, this murderer, this shock- 
ing incarnation of all that is repulsive in human nature and 
brazen in sin, commands the sympathies of the Abolitionists al- 
most to a man. He is their protomartyr, the first saint in their 
calendar ; they regret his defeat, they eulogize him blasphemous- 
ly, they propose to consecrate the day of his execution, they 
proclaim it the signal of the downfall of slavery, lawyers ride 
hundreds of miles to defend him, from regions where the slave- 
holder could not hope for justice, they plot his rescu», while they 
drop not a sympathizing word to Burley Turner and the other 
victims of his cruelty. John Brown, then, is the acknowledged 
representative, the visible exponent of Northern Abolitionism 
as it exists in the hearts of seven-tenths of its votaries. Tell me 
not that it is confined to the Cheevers, Sloanes, and a few more 
such ultras. It pervades the whole mass. I see it in the bold- 
ness of the ultras, in the subdued tone of their opposers, in their 
newspapers, their elections, in every thing. Brown's conduct 



1 04 JUDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

should have produced one spontaneous burst of indignation 
from Pennsylvania to the Lakes. It should have disrobed the 
priests who advocated it, and blasted all who approved of it. 
Such would have been its effects in 1795. Such would have been 
its effects forty years ago. 

These disorganizes regard the poverty, moral, physical, and 
intellectual degradation of the South as axiomatic, and assert 
that the South could not live without the North; and yet they 
call cotton " king" (forgetting the other members of the royal 
family), and complain that the whole country "has been gov- 
erned by slave-holders for seventy years." 

If, now, the South should withdraw from the Union, who will 
be to blame for it and its consequences? Surely, surely not the 
South. And yet, when that event occurs, you shall hear these 
implacable persecutors of her speaking of her people as though 
they sundered the Union because they could not rule it, or from 
a reckless, restless, hot-blooded spirit that will suffer no opposi- 
tion from without and knows no control from within. So it has 
always been, and so will it be — no very soothing balm to wounds 
thirty years old and torn open afresh at least quadrennially. 

The Union dissolved, and what then? "Why, war, of 
course," is the common answer. No, gentlemen, there will be 
no war if the Southern States move off in a body. I would 
stake every thing I am worth upon this position. But let us 
suppose the worst. You, perhaps, like hundreds of thousands 
of our people, look at the numerical strength of the sections; 
and because the North greatly outnumbers us, you conclude that 
war would be hopeless to us. No, gentlemen, if the success of 
wars depended upon the population engaged in them, France 
would have mastered England centuries ago. In these days 
wars depend more upon means than men. Now, the South can 
put 200,000 men in the field, and more if need be, and support 
them there longer than any nation on the globe of the same 
white population, without reducing her productive resources ten 
per cent. Her foreign commerce would go on just as it does 
with these differences only: that all Europe would be our car- 
riers instead of the North, and all the profits of our vast trade 
would go to enrich the South instead of being divided as they 
now are in the ratio of eight dollars to the North and one to the 
South. Where are the 200,000 of the North to come from to 
meet us in the field? From the productive classes. I low are 
they to be supported? I know not. Our three years' war with 
England cost us $127,006,000, and we never had 100,000 men in 
the field at a time or the half of it. It was our straitened re- 
sources and nothing else that forced us into a peace before we 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 1 05 

gained the object of the war. Alexander commenced the con- 
quest of the world with 35,000 men, and Bonaparte the conquest 
of Europe with but 7,000 more. Southern troops fought as well 
under Jackson as Northern troops under Hull, Mississippi 
troops as well at Buena Vista as Indiana troops. Scott, Taylor, 
Twiggs, Quitman, Davis were as gallant leaders as any that the 
North furnished. Away then with this notion of whipping us 
into the Union, or whipping us at all. It may frighten the ig- 
norant; it will inspirit the wise. But what of the internal ene- 
my? Why the internal enemy will make provisions to sustain 
their young masters in the field. So they have done in three 
wars, and so they will do in all. But will not the North stir them 
up? Yes, just exactly as John Brown did. The crusade against 
the South will end as all crusades have ended. Suppose a 
peaceable separation, what then? A common interest will bind 
the South together as with hooks of steel. Trade will be com- 
paratively free; it will not be fettered for protection. We shall 
buy where we can buy cheapest, and sell where we can sell 
dearest. The cheapest and best goods will be at the South, and 
trade will take the direction that it had before the Union was 
formed. We shall grow rich as if by magic. 

How will it be with the North? The only bond of union with 
her people is hatred of slavery, and they will begin to quarrel 
forthwith — about the authors of the disruption, about the seat of 
government, about the loaves and fishes, the unequal burdens 
of the government, tariffs, Eastern and Western interests, farm- 
ing and mercantile interests, and a thousand other interests; 
and in less than thirty years there will be another split in the 
great Northern Confederacy. Their revenue from foreign com- 
merce will not support the Government a single year. 

What then? Direct taxes? The people will not bear them; 
and they cannot be adjusted harmoniously if they would. The 
stolen negroes will give trouble. Canada will insist upon sur- 
rendering her trust of them. The North will object. The car- 
rying trade of three and a half millions of bales of cotton, sev- 
enty thousand tierces of rice, and one hundred and fifty-seven 
thousand hogsheads of tobacco, to say nothing of other South- 
ern exports, will be lost to them immediately and annually; and 
all the shipping needful for their transportation will be thrown 
out of employ. I venture the prediction that in less than five 
years after the dissolution rabid Massachusetts herself will be 
courting Southern commerce herself, as mute upon the subject 
of slavery as the Bunker Hill monument. 

Now, young gentlemen, you know your foe, your cause, and 
your power. Go forth, not to challenge a contest, not to fear it, 



106 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

not to strive for disunion, nor to make a dishonorable surrender 
of the thousandth part of a mill more to save it. If the other 
States, with all the lights of experience before them, will go on 
furnishing the means of their own oppression, if they are will- 
ing to barter away their rights, constitutional, commercial, and 
territorial, still further to save the Union — then I say and would 
utter it with the trumpet's voice, let South Carolina put her 
cause in the hands of God and take her stand alone. I do not 
think she has much to hope for from the other States ; but in 
every State there are thousands of as gallant spirits as her own 
most gallant who will rally to her standard if she be attacked as 
joyously as to the festive board. And do you, young gentle- 
men, acquit yourselves as nobly in her cause as you have in her 
college, and you will have an enviable fame. In the field imi- 
tate your Butler, who, like his own Palmetto when ball-struck, 
showed no outward sign of injury while life remained; and if 
compelled by overwhelming numbers to give way, let your 
Might be like that of the eagle in the storm, that rides in proud 
defiance before the blast that it cannot resist, and strikes with 
strong wing the angry elements which hurry it away. May 
earth's purest honors and heaven's richest blessings attend you! 
Farewell. 

This address drew forth a letter from Hon. J. 

L. Pettigru remonstrating with Judge Longstreet 

for the character of his speech, Mr. Pettigru' s 

letter caused the Judge to write the two following : 

Columbia, S. C, December 6, 1859. 

My Dear Pettigru: One good my speech will certainly do: 
it will prove our friendship if yours remains steadfast; for your 
opinion of the "diatribe" will not abate a scruple of my esteem 
for you, if it does not yours for me. I considered it well before 
I delivered it, and I did not suppose that there was a man South- 
ern born who could object to it. I have reconsidered it, and I 
cannot see wherein it is objectionable in matter, time, or place. 
The introductory remarks were extemporaneous and ex abun- 
dantia cautela. It is directed against Abolitionists exclusively, 
who have severed the Churches, abased us in every variety of 
form, overleaped all laws in their attacks upon us, made the 
most unnatural exactions of us, violated all compromises, and 
brought the country to the very verge of revolution. Young 
men are just going to encounter the storms which they have 
awakened, and which they manifestly intend to keep rumbling. 



RUMBLINGS OF THE COMING STORM. 107 

Could it have been wrong to put these young men in full pos- 
session of the grounds of our sectional differences, to expose 
the shallow pretenses of their implacable enemies, and to inspire 
them with confidence in their cause if things come to the worst? 
I cannot think so. Once before I spoke out when I thought 
the'country in imminent danger, and I got a terrible rasping for 
it; but I lived to be commended for it by those who lashed me 
sorest, and so it will be, I flatter myself, in this instance. In 
neither case was I influenced by party. I thank you for your 
kindly admonition; but if I get into a "pitfall," be assured that 
I shall rebound with an elasticity which will place me upon 
ground far more agreeable to me than that which I now occupy. 
Still 1 duly appreciate your counsels, because I know they come 
from a true friend. I have been about eighteen years at the 
head of colleges, and never deemed it my duty but twice to pub- 
lish my thoughts upon the agitating questions which stirred the 
country ; and I hardly think at my time of life I shall deem it 
necessary to do so again, but I make no promises. 

Your sincere friend, A. B. Longstreet. 

We are all wiser now. We are wiser because 
we are cooler. We are wiser because time has 
been teaching us. Judge Longstreet was not 
alone in his belief that secession would not pro- 
duce war, absurd as it may seem to us all now. 
He did stake every thing on that issue, and lost. 
So did the South. This address will not convince 
anybody (not already so convinced) that the South 
was right, but it demonstrates that its author and 
those who took the same side thought they were 
right. The struggle they maintained against such 
tremendous odds, the privations and sufferings 
they endured vindicate their sincerity. In the 
light of accomplished events, Judge Longstreet's 
arguments may seem to be feeble and his proph- 
ecies absurd ; but it requires but little effort of the 
imagination to conceive what must have been the 
effect of such a speech upon a body of South Car- 
olina students holding to the State rights theories 



108 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

of Mr. Calhoun, in the flush of youthful enthusi- 
asm, and rejoicing in the conscious strength of the 
young manhood to which nothing seems impossi- 
ble but defeat or dishonor. The peroration has 
the ring of the earlier times, when popular orators 
were not afraid of a mighty sweep into the empy- 
rean, and when rhetoric was more lurid and crit- 
ics less sardonic than now. 

It was not surprising that the young South Car- 
olinians took him at his word ; and when the war 
began, the halls of the University were quickly 
emptied. The gallant boys rushed into the field 
with martial enthusiasm and buoyant hopes. Many 
of them came back no more, left to sleep in their 
bloody shrouds where they fell fighting beneath 
the bars and stars. The survivors came back un- 
der the shadow of defeat to begin life anew in a 
new world. 



A TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 



In 1854-55 the country was swept b} r the political 
movement called " Know-nothingism." The 
excitement was intense, and the feeling most bitter. 
The fact that the Know-nothing party (so called) 
was a secret organization influenced popular curi- 
osity, and aggravated the asperity of the conflict. 
The new organization drew into its ranks a large 
part of the old Whig party, then in the first stages 
of dissolution, while the great body of the Demo- 
cratic party opposed it. Because of the nature of 
some of the issues raised by the Know-nothings, 
not a few of the preachers of the Methodist and 
other Protestant denominations were induced to 
join the secret lodges, where they were taught the 
grips and pass-words, and assumed the obligations 
of the order. Judge Longstreet, never indifferent 
to such questions, under what he felt to be the con- 
straint of duty wrote two powerful and character- 
istic papers against the Know-nothing party. He 
was particularly severe and sarcastic in his hand- 
ling of Methodist preachers who had entered the 
Know-nothing lodges. He spoke of the pledge 
said to be exacted of them to resist the importation 
of European paupers into the United States, and 
asked: "Pray, who are paupers? They are not 
necessarily ignorant or vicious. They are God's 
poor, born to hard fortune in the Old World, who 

(109) 



IIO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

seek our shores, hoping to find room and work and 
a chance in life. Instead of giving them a kindly 
welcome and sympathy and help, and preaching 
to them the gospel that reveals the love of God 
and leads them to enter into the fellowship of the 
Church, these preachers go into secret midnight 
conclaves and swear to put them down or repel 
them from our shores!" And much more of the 
same sort. These philippics were copied by the 
Democratic newspapers all over the country, and 
no doubt did much toward arresting the triumph- 
ant progress of the Know-nothing party. To Judge 
Longstreet largely is due the credit — or discredit, 
if the reader prefer so to think — of the overthrow 
of that organization. 

Judge Longstreet was a Democrat. Dr. Wi- 
nans, the great Mississippi Methodist preach- 
er, was a Whig, and in common with the ma- 
jority of that party was inclined in his heart to 
favor any movement that seemed likely to over- 
throw or defeat the Democratic party. So it hap- 
pened that when Longstreet entered the arena on 
the one side, Winans was mightily moved to take 
up the gage of battle for the other. It is a little 
amusing to note how two men so brave, so good, 
and so frank in their natures, strove to conceal 
from themselves and from their readers the parti- 
san animus that caused them to shed their ink -pro 
and con. Each one of them assumes that he wrote 
as a Methodist, not as a Whig or Democrat, his 
chief aim being the preservation and welfare of the 
Church, with incidental reference only to the po- 
litical welfare of the nation. 



i 



A TILT WITH DR. W I NANS. in 

Human nature is indeed self-deceiving, and even 
the greatest and best of men, acting under the 
pressure of powerful excitement, fail to under- 
stand the mixed motives that control them. Here 
is a lesson that teaches the importance of close and 
candid self-examination, and makes a plea for the 
charity that we should exercise in our judgments 
of each other, and which we shall all need at last. 
The issues involved in the Know-nothing move- 
ment have not wholly lost their interest to the Am- 
erican people, and it will not be deemed a waste 
of space to print what two such men as Long- 
street and Winans thought and said in 1855. 

Dr. Winans's Letter. 

Rev. A. B. Longstreet, LL.D. — My Dear Old Friend: I have 
great reluctance to come into conflict with you before the pub- 
lic. This reluctance arises partly from the great respect in 
which I have held you for many years, and from the fraternal 
affection which I have at the same time entertained for you, and 
partly from a persuasion that I am no equal match for you with 
the pen. We together have warred strenuously against the ma- 
lignant tendencies of Abolition fanaticism, and we suffered to- 
gether in that ruthless warfare. Few things so endear men to 
each other as united resistance of a common foe, and the ardor 
of the attachment is usually in proportion to the fierceness of the 
struggle and to the amount of suffering it has involved. What 
wonder, then, that I feel reluctant to aim at your breast a single 
blow, no matter how feeble or innoxious? Yet, under a strong 
persuasion that your address to "The M. E. Church, South," 
ought to be animadverted on, and that it ought to be done by an 
old Methodist preacher, I am constrained to stifle the sensibility 
that would withhold me, and to brave that terrible/a/*? with which 
you menace the allies of the Know-nothings who may place 
themselves within the range of those "shafts" which you evi- 
dently consider fatal where they strike. 

I never have been, and do not expect ever to be, a member 
of the "American " party ; but if I were as rabidly opposed to it 
as you have rendered it abundantly evident you are, I think I 
should consider your address to the M. E. Church, South, in one 



112 JUDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

particular alone, more, abundantly more, worthy of censure than 
any thing in the Know-nothing organization. I allude to the 
fact that you have formally addressed a Church, in its aggregate 
capacity, upon a political question If you had any rational 
purpose in making this address (and who that knows you can 
doubt that you had), it must have been to array the Church 
against the American party. Could you succeed in this design, 
the very fountain of political power would be immediately poi- 
soned by a union of Church and State; and that, too, at a point 
more efficient by far for ill than in the halls of legislation or in 
executive prerogative, and where responsibility could never be 
brought home to those who perverted that union to unpatriotic 
purposes. I defy you, my brother, to specify any thing in Know 
nothingism of equal turpitude with this attempt to enlist a 
Church organization in a crusade against a political party, no 
matter what that party may be. My history is an ample evi- 
dence that I consider it the right of Christians and preachers of 
the gospel to "meddle with politics;" but I do not believe that 
a Church organization has any such right; nor, pardon my frank- 
ness, that any man can excite a Church to such a course with- 
out political delinquency which I will not characterize as I think 
it deserves. Had you addressed your remarks upon the Amer- 
ican party generally, leaving individual members of the M. E. 
Church, South, to be influenced by your arguments or deterred 
by your menaces, in common with other partakers in the polit- 
ical interests of the United States, I should have thought you 
Avere doing what you had a right to do, however I might differ 
with you as to the correctness of the views presented in that 
address. If you did not feel constrained by a consciousness of 
the wrong you were doing in making such an address, I am sur- 
prised that your knowledge of Methodists had not led you to 
forbear. Nearly fifty years of pretty intimate and extensive ac- 
quaintance with them satisfies mc that there is no community of 
men who would shrink with more horror and disgust from an 
attempt to drill them into any thing like concert in political ac- 
tion than they. No mandamus of a bishop, no influence of a 
presiding elder, no dogmatism or dictation of learned doctors 
ever can, I think, sway them from their self-elected course. 
Nay, their jealousy for their political independence not unfre- 
quently renders them deaf even to the arguments of the leading 
men in their Church. Be assured I have no fear of the influence 
of your address upon the course of the M. E. Church, South; 
but* I am not without fear that such an address, having been ut- 
tered by an old Methodist preacher, will beget a groundless 
jealousy in the public mind of the liability of the M. E. Church, 



A TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 113 

South, to being drilled into concerted political action. It will 
be perfectly natural to reason that Dr. Longstreet would not 
have made such an address if his knowledge of his Church had 
not authorized him to hope that he could sway them collectively. 
If not, why should he address them, and in their collective ca- 
pacity? Whether, then, you shall or shall not have succeeded 
in arraying your Church against the Know-nothings, you have, 
in my opinion, by making such an address, done harm to the 
extent of your influence. I grieve that it is so ; but " to err is 
human," especially where passion has blinded the intellect, so 
that even Rev. Judge Longstreet, LL.D., maybe found "weak, 
and as other men " when circumstances combine against him. 

You say: " Of all the parties ever conjured up in this coun- 
try of legerdemain, this is the only one that ever exacted re- 
spect from its opponents by reason of the wise and good that 
belonged to it." Your sources of information may be different 
and better than mine; but, so far as my knowledge of this and 
other parties is concerned, this censure (for censure I presume 
you intended it to be upon the Know-nothings) had no founda- 
tion in fact. So far as I have read their writings and heard their 
speeches they have not displayed a whit more aptitude to claim 
respect from others on account of the wisdom and goodness of 
those who belong to them than the other parties I have known. 
True, when they have been vilified, traduced, and insulted by 
imputations that would disgrace humanity, they have sometimes 
inquired whether A, B, or C, men of known wisdom and worth, 
would be voluntary partners in such infamy. But were they to 
contemplate with complacency the wisdom and moral worth of 
many of their members, they might be excused, for I do not in 
the least depreciate your just claims to either of these qualities 
when I say their claims to both are fully equal to yours. You 
may satisfy yourself that, because you do not aim your thrusts 
directly at these wise and good men, you do them no wrong in 
vituperating the party to which they voluntarily belong. This 
is convenient casuistry enough. It will hardly, however, be 
satisfactory to those whom you wound " by implication " in your 
denunciation of the party. The wise and good in the American 
party, it is some consolation to believe, will probably survive 
the glancing wounds inflicted by your shafts. 

In your conjectural account of the origin of the Know-noth- 
ing party you ascribe far more importance to the desire to throw 
off the burden of foreign pauperism than I have been able to de- 
tect in the views of that party. True, this is one of the causes 
assigned for their desire to check the influx of foreigners into 
our country, but it is manifestly spoken of by them as if regard- 



114 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ed as vastly inferior in importance and influence to other causes 
by which they are actuated. That this could not be the chief 
cause why Massachusetts should get up a new political organi- 
zation in the United States is evident from the fact that she had 
the power, in the exercise of her State Rights, to prohibit the 
entrance of foreign paupers into her territory or to send them 
back to the country whence they came. I believe she has exer- 
cised the latter of these powers. The machinery of an organ- 
ized party in the United States was entirely too ponderous to be 
resorted to by sagacious Yankees in a case like this, where the 
remedy for the evil was so easy and in their own hands. It 
seems to me, my old friend, that you are not apt at guessing, at 
least that you have grievously failed in guessing the origin of 
the American party. As to driving away those foreigners, pau- 
pers or otherwise, who are already domiciled in the United 
States (I do not mean those who are naturalized), the idea, I 
suppose, never entered the head of a Know-nothing or of anv 
Yankee till you injected it. Why, then, the sneer: "Shall she 
use the contribution of her confederates, and then cut their ac- 
quaintance and drive them off? " It seems to me wholly gratui- 
tous. 

You are very probably correct in one supposition in this 
connection: that foreigners, especially English and Irish, 
crowded into Massachusetts with a view to "sustain her in her 
efforts to overthrow the government" of the United States by 
the triumph of Abolitionism ; and that they came with " the im- 
pression that her feelings and sympathies were in unison with 
their own." All or very nearly all immigrants from Europe 
are from education, and most of them from interest, thorough- 
going Abolitionists Well, then, might the fanatics of Massa- 
chusetts calculate on the hearty co-operation of these immi- 
grants, especially of those from England and Ireland, in their 
daring crusade against slavery! And as well might these im- 
migrants count on the burning zeal of their principals in this 
holy warfare whom they came prepared to aid in it, to maintain 
them while so engaged and their poor also, and even to wink 
hard on their fugitives from the justice of their native country. 
But the evil of pauperism, though felt to be oppressive by Mas- 
sachusetts, and nowhere regarded villi indifference, is not, as 1 
understand the Know-nothings, as a drop of the bucket in their 
estimation compared with other evils which they apprehend as 
morally certain to result to this whole nation, and especially to the 
South, from the immigration ami naturalization of such swarms 
of foreigners as are pouring into the United States from year to 
year. The utter and incurable political ignorance of nine-tenths 



A TILT WITH DR. W I NANS. 115 

of these immigrants, their habits of thinking and feeling, in the 
nature of things adverse to the political institutions of our coun- 
try, and their vast and rapidly increasing numbers, it is believed 
by the American party, as for thirty years it has been believed 
by me, cause them to be dangerous, alarmingly dangerous, to 
the safety of our national Union and the permanence of our 
glorious institutions so long as the door of naturalization is left 
open to them. 

The rapid increase of foreign Romanists, their blind subserv- 
iency to the pope and to the officials under his authority, and 
the recently adopted tone of bold and defiant annunciation of 
papal supremacy, and of coercion in the conversion of heretics 
to papal domination, uttered by American Romanist writers, 
were viewed before the Know-nothing organization existed by 
sober and considerate patriots and Protestants as rendering it 
dangerous to the well-being and even safety of our country to 
intrust such Romanists as conceded sovereignty to the pope, in 
civil as well as ecclesiastical matters, with offices of power and 
political influence. 

I assure you, my dear brother, that I entertained these views 
before I ever heard of a Know-nothing party, and that I now 
consider them as far more important than any which were ever 
mooted by the Whig and Locofoco parties. I conjecture that 
the entertainment of these great national views, believed to be 
essential to the permanence of our national institutions, and not, 
as you suppose, a mere desire to throw off the burden of foreign 
pauperism, led to the organization of the American party, 
whether in Massachusetts or elsewhere, I have no means of 
guessing. The public must decide between the claims of our 
several conjectures to reasonableness and probability. 

I am at some loss to determine whether you accredit the orig- 
ination of this new party to the influence of Abolition fanati- 
cism in any degree otherwise than as Abolitionists drew upon 
Massachusetts the burden of foreign pauperism, of which the 
new organization was devised, you think, to relieve her. If you 
did intend to class this organization among Abolition devices, 
you did it not only without reason, but directly in the teeth of 
your own conjectural account of the origin of this party which 
you so love to hate. Were foreigners allured to Massachusetts 
because of their well-known Abolition tendencies, and would 
the Abolitionists organize a party to deprive themselves of an 
increase of some one hundred thousand votes annually by pro- 
hibiting their naturalization, and this, too, among shrewd, calcu- 
lating Yankees? The supposition is ridiculously absurd. Every 
reading man knows that foreign immigrants are, with very few 



1 1 6 JUDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

exceptions, Abolitionists from education; they are so almost 
equally from interest. The only resource of most of them is 
their own labor. Banish slavery from the United States, and 
there would be an instant demand for the free labor of at least 
a million. This is a fact which foreigners can understand, how- 
ever little they can understand of political philosophy. This 
appeal of interest, coming in aid of their Abolition education, 
renders almost every naturalized foreigner a certain ally of the 
Abolition party. How soon, if the process of naturalizing for- 
eigners continue, will the Abolitionists be rendered able to mod- 
ify the Constitution of the United States to suit their own nefa- 
rious and incendiary purposes against the slave-holding States? 
Every Southern man who advocates a continuance of the natu- 
ralization of foreigners appears to me as with a drawn dagger 
pressing the point with more and still more frenzy upon the 
very vitals of his own interest and safety. Every new voter so 
made may be regarded as another nail in the coffin of all that is 
valuable in the peculiar lot of a Southerner. 

Respectfully and affectionately your old friend and brother, 

William WiNANS. 

P. S.: I regret to have seen only your second address — per- 
haps more properly the second part of your address — to the M. 
E. Church, South. W. W. 

Amite, Miss., October i6, 1S55. 

Judge Longstreet's Reply. 

Rev. William Winans,D.D. — My Dear Old Friend : I received 
your letter addressed to me through the columns of the Natchez 
Courier nearly three months ago, and I postponed my answer to 
it, at first, that it might not appear just before the Mississippi 
elections. Again, that it might not appear during the session of 
the Memphis Conference, the Memphis Appeal being the chosen 
medium of its publication and the Oxford paper being then sus- 
pended. And yet again, that it might appear during the winter 
vacation of this institution. 

In what follows I flatter myself that neither you nor the par- 
ty which vou serve will find any thing objectionable in the 
motive which prompts it, whatever you may think of its matter 
and form. The appearance of your letter (from a Whig) in a 
paper published some hundred and forty or fifty miles from jour 
residence, edited by a Know -nothing candidate for Congress, 
one of mv most wanton and Implacable maligners, just in time to 
spread fully o\er the State before the elections, was all doubtless 
purely accidental, But allow me to felicitate you upon your 



TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 1 17 

good fortune in having been led by jour impartial judgment to 
take sides with the Know-nothings against your "dear old 
friend " and brother; for had you happened to reverse your posi- 
tion, your organ would have given you a specimen of its natural- 
ized Southern sympathies that would have eaten into your ten- 
der sensibilities like a screw-worm, and your Know-notbing 
brethren would have taught you that love-feasts are poor con- 
trivances to knit hearts together compared with Know-nothing 
lodges. 

You regret that you have seen but one of my letters. So do 
I. Had you seen them all, you would have had more charity for 
my motives than you evince, and more charity for yourself than 
to have dropped some expressions and intimations that I find 
in your communication. You would have learned that my con- 
troversy with the Know-nothings was not of my seeking. That 
it was forced upon me by Know-nothing slanders, unmitigated 
and unrelenting — slanders which struck at my dearest interests 
and my most sacred relations. That I bore all these for a long 
time in silence and in patience; even until I saw this "political 
party," as you are pleased to call it, while protesting aloud 
against my teaching of politics in the university, whispering 
the students of my charge into its midnight gatherings and there 
binding them by oath upon oath to everlasting fidelity to its own 
political creed. I now spoke out boldly in my own defense and 
against this party ; not against its principles, but against its 
mode of propagating them. In strict truth there was not one 
word of politics in my first letter, if I understand the term. I 
said nothing about foreigners, and no more than this about 
Catholics: " I am no Catholic. Put Methodism and Romanism 
on the field of fair argument, and I will stake my all upon the 
issue; but I am not such a coward as to flee the field of honor- 
able warfare for savage ambush fighting, or such a fool as to be- 
lieve that a man's religion is to be reformed by harassing his 
person. Nor am I quite so blind as not to see that when the work 
of crushing Churches is begun in the country it is not going to 
stop with the overthrow of one." This was just such a letter as 
you tell me you would have indulged. Not so with either the 
saints or sinners of the Know-nothing party. They assailed 
me from all sides and in all modes. Not one of them gravely 
answered my objections to the Know-nothing discipline and 
dealings. They chose rather to assail me personally in language 
as unbecoming in them as it was undeserved by me. Even my 
literary bagatelle, the amusement of my idle hours five and twen- 
ty years ago, was held up to view as a test of my fitness moral- 
ly and intellectually for the sacred office and responsible station 



Il8 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

to which I have been called. And jet these public assaults, un- 
detailed in their severity, were kind, courteous, and pious com- 
pared with the private communications which were addressed to 
me under the authors' names in answer to this letter. They all 
agreed, however, in ore particular at least, and that was that if 
I had never meddled with politics before I had done it now, and 
that this was a crying sin in an instructor of youth. You per- 
ceive then, brother, that you grossly misrepresent the Know- 
nothings when you accord to me the right of opposing them in 
any way. 

That I should not have a very exalted opinion of them after 
what I have suffered from them, I think you will own was quite 
natural. Have a little charity for me then if " no mandamus 
from a bishop, no influence of a presiding elder, no dogmatism 
or dictation of learned doctors," no combination of Christians 
and politicians, no power of numbers, can awe me into respect 
for them. 

You say: " I defy you, my brother, to specify any thing in 
Know-nothingism of equal turpitude [my italics] with this at- 
tempt to enlist Church organization in a crusade against a polit- 
ical party, no matter what that party may be." That was a hard 
word, brother, which I underscored. It would have inspired 
considerable indignation had you not been kind enough to em- 
brace in its application Mr. Wesley, yourself, the main body of 
your Church, and the whole body of Know-nothings. Mr. 
Wesley endeavored to enlist not only his own people, but all 
Americans, all Englishmen, and Irishmen against the Ameri- 
can party of 1776. Was he guilty of turpitude in so doing? Nay, 
my brother. Turpitude involves intentional error, and 5lr. Wes- 
ley was not the man to commit that. He really believed that 
the colonies had no just grounds of revolt against the mother 
country, that they were periling every thing valuable in Church 
and State, every thing sacred in fraternal ties upon mere political 
abstractions; and so believing he exerted his influence to its ut- 
most extent to reduce the colonies to submission. That was»the 
noblest political party that ever was formed, ami if it be turpi- 
tude to enlist a Church organization against any political part) , 
no matter what that party may be, where does Mr. Wesley stand? 
Is the modern American party (its name was Sam when I took 
the pen against it) more holy, more pure, more noble, more dig- 
nified than the old American party? If, then, I believed, a- 1 
verily did believe, that the Know-nothings were about to rend 
Churches, inflame passions, sunder friendships, and kindle the 
flames of civil war, why might 1 not use my best endeavors to 
turn our Church at least away from it without incurring the 



A TILT WITH DR. W I NANS. lip 

guilt of " turpitude? " But this is only by the way. I will show 
you presently that you have mistaken my designs in this Church 
matter entirely. 

Recapitulating the incidents which enlivened and cemented 
our friendships (wherein you represented my feelings in de- 
scribing your own), you say : " We together have warred strenu- 
ously against the malignant tendencies of Abolition fanaticism, 
and we suffered together in that ruthless warfare." True, your 
efforts in that struggle were gallant, noble, powerful; mine were 
the weakest of my life, and therefore to myself the most morti- 
fying. But against whom were we contending, brother? 
Against a political party which had brought its baneful principles 
into our Church. What was our aim when argument failed to 
exact justice from that party? To set all Southern Methodism, 
all parties, all men who respected religion, right, and fair 
dealing against it. What was the issue of our labors? The al- 
most entire withdrawal of Southern and South-western Method- 
ists from all connection with the Northern branch of our Church 
and the establishment of an independent Southern Church 
which hath no fellowship w'ith it. Was there any turpitude in 
all this? If there was, you were a much larger sharer in it than 
I was, for you were by far the more efficient laborer of the two. 
And here let me remark in passing that one of my strongest 
objections to Know-nothingism was that it united the main 
body of the Southern Methodists in sworn bonds of fellowship 
with that very party who had repelled them by proscription, 
blistered them by calumny, and cabbaged all the partnership 
funds. It was in the land of these law-despising, right-abusing 
persecutors that Know-nothingism originated, Senator Adams's 
information to the contrary notwithstanding. I cannot stop to 
prove it at large. Suffice it for the present that Chase says it 
originated in the " free States." The first Know-nothing formu- 
lary of the Grand Council was issued from the press of Dam- 
rell & Moore, No. 16 Devonshire Street, Boston. Baltimore 
would not have sent its bantling to receive its swaddling-bands 
in Boston. The infamous Judson (according to the papers) was 
recently introduced to a council in Pennsylvania as the father 
of the order, and he was received with plaudits. The thing has 
no Southern feature. But enough of this. 

I think I hazard nothing in saying that when I wrote my last 
letter at least seven-tenths of the members of our Church had 
joined this party. For what? To accomplish its avowed aims 
of course. And what were they ? Why to " enlist " every Prot- 
estant " Church Organization '•' in the land in a " crusade against " 
one of the weakest Churches, numerically, in the whole coun- 



120 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

try. Here was the first object of the Know-nothing party, and 
the second was to oppose foreigners. Will vou say this is a com- 
bination against a Cfiurch and not of a Church against a part_\ ? 
Which is the worst? Which savors most of turpitude? 'But, 
unfortunately for the distinction, the combination is against a 
political party, too, as its acts demonstrably show, whatever 
may be its professions. In honest truth this was the main, if not 
the exclusive, object of it. The first intimation that the world 
had of its existence was its onslaught upon Democrats in gen- 
eral and Nebraska men in particular. And please remember as 
we pass along who suffered first from it, when it had neither a 
name nor a platform ; for when asked why, fighting under an 
anti-Catholic flag, they killed nobody but Democrats, they said it 
was because the Democrats fought against them. 

Now I suppose that an actual, existing, operative, sworn com- 
bination of the kind is ten thousand times more reprehensible 
than the simple endeavors of a single individual to enlist a 
Church against a political party alone. 

But startling and patricidal as is your doctrine in its applica- 
tion, it is infinitely worse in the abstract. Turpitude to enlist (or 
rather try to enlist) a Church organization "against" any party, 
no matter iv/iat that party may be! Why, Doctor, such teaching 
coming from you should raise a shout of triumph from all the 
pirates, bandits, and assassins in the land. They have only to 
combine, to concert their schemes in secret, and publish to the 
world a political platform, and it forthwith becomes criminal to 
array a Church against them, or even to try to do it. A political 
party may make hostility to Methodism an article of their creed, 
and it would be criminal in me to advise my Church to oppose 
it. The Know-nothings allow the Catliolicsto oppose them, and 
where their vots counts heavily, even embrace them; but you 
would not allow even a Catholic to counsel his people against this 
party. Your doctrine is monstrous, brother, and coming from 
one of the best heads of our Church it proves demonstratively 
that Know-nothingism, as it was when I took the pen against it, 
is indefensible. Whether it be right or wrong to array a Church 
against a political partv depends entirely upon the character of 
thai party. If it intermeddle with Churches, if it form coalitions 
with Churches against a Church, if its professed object be to rob 
a Church of its civil privileges, if it be immoral in its constitu 
tion and revolutionary in its tendencies, then it is the duty of 
every Christian individually, and every Church collectively, to 
oppose it. And if it displays all these uncomely features in the 
only manifestations which it is pleased to make of itself while 
it conceals from the public view its counsels, its plans, its ma- 



A TILT WITH DR. WIN AN S. 121 

chinery, and its membership, the duty becomes imperative, and 
the more imperative the stronger the party. Such I regarded the 
Know-nothings. It was reserved for this party to work in the 
dark, to unite religion and politics, to gather recruits by whis- 
pers, to nose for them about schools and colleges, to cement po- 
litical bonds by oaths, to devise a plan whereby ministers of the 
gospel might become politicians without reproof and persecute 
without discovery, to put the consciences of some men in the 
keeping of others, to bind its members not only to vote but to 
fight under direction. Such the inner workings of the or- 
der. What the outward? Hissing, bleating, and coughing 
down such men as Wise and Douglass, destroying ballot-boxes, 
and butchering in and around their blazing dwellings men, 
women, and children. 

It spreads its taint through all the departments of govern- 
ment. Witness the scenes now enacting in Washington, the 
legislation of Massachusetts, the criminal trials in New York. 
Cart a native expect justice from a judge or jury of foreigners, 
or a foreigner from these native officials; a Protestant from 
Catholics, or a Catholic from Protestants? At a trial in Massa- 
chusetts, Know-nothings excused themselves from testifying to 
facts important to justice on the ground that their testimony 
would subject them to (Know-nothing) pains and penalties. 
And the judge decided that these volunteer, self-assumed re- 
sponsibilities placed the witnesses within the rule "that no man 
is bound to testify to facts that will criminate himself." They 
testified, however, very freely against the Catholic who was on 
his trial. What confidence will those who remain in the lodges 
have in those who left them? What confidence those who left 
them in those who remain in them ? 

Before the magnates of the order, gathered at Philadelphia, 
were pleased to release the members (themselves included, of 
course) from so much of their oaths as required them to con- 
ceal their membership and the membership of their fellows, the 
Know-nothings must have mustered at least 500,000 strong. It 
is safe to assume that each one of them was questioned as to his 
membership or the membership of others at least ten times on 
an average. How did they meet these questions? How were 

they obliged to meet them under their oaths? Why by . 

What shall I call them, brother, to speak truth without giving 
offense? I will call them untruths, knowing no softer name for 
them. Here were 500,000 untruths, scattered broadcast over the 
whole surface of the Union as the first-fruits of Know-nothing- 
ism. Many, very many, of them dropped from the lips of 
Christians. How were the most of these 500,000 got into the or- 



122 JUDGE LONGSJREBT. 

der? By members pretending ignorance of it; for they were 
under oath not to acknowledge their membership or to disclose 
the secrets of the brotherhood. They must, therefore, have 
been guilty of willful deception with every proselyte they 
gained. Say that 300,000 were gained over in this way, and we 
have 300,000 more untruths distributed through the country as 
the price of so many converts to Know-nothingism. Thou- 
sands and hundreds of thousands have left the order, and they 
almost unanimously testify that they found it not to be what it 
Avas represented to be. For a time all who withdrew and spoke 
against it were denounced as perjured knaves and traitors. This 
was true or false according as they found the thing to agree or 
disagree with the representations of it made to them; a candid 
representation of it, as we have 6een, could not have been made 
to them by the law of the order. If true, what a flood of iniquity 
poured out of the order Avhen they left it! If false, what lan- 
guage is too severe to characterize the calumny heaped upon 
them by their recent brethren! 

Mr. Simon Wolf, of Pennsylvania, who writes like a man of 
wisdom and truth, after detailing the flattering but delusive rep- 
resentations by which he was induced to join the Know-noth- 
ings, thus concludes: "/ no~v declare that in a life of sixty years I 
have never found in private or in public, in politics or out of it, in 
Church or in State, as much deceit, falsehood, and corruption as I 
found in the self-styled '■American party.'' " 

To this let me add the testimony of a man a little older than 
Mr. Wolf, who never did join the American party : " I was born 
and raised (if Mr. Hillyer please: see Worcester, Mr. 11.) in the 
State of Georgia, where there are now over forty-three thou- 
sand Know-nothings, not one of whom, I will venture to say, 
will assert that he knows a blemish on my moral character. I 
have mingled much and disputed much in politics, and more in 
law. I have been twenty-eight years a member of the Method- 
ist Church, and sixteen years a minister of the gospel, and I 
never was called a dotard or fool, or likened to a clown under 
men's own signatures, or charged with falsehood and turpitude 
by Methodist preachers until 1 came in conflict with Know- 
nothings; nor have I ever been, in the whole course of mv 
life, as much calumniated as I have been by Know-nothings 
and their champions in the last nine months. Never did 1 mv 
such an intolerant, arrogant, insolent, overbearing, inconsistent, 
vindictive party as this. It belies me into opposition to it, 
and then tells me thai as a minister of the gospel I have no 
right to meddle with politics. 1 reply, then, that the hundreds 
of preachers who are in it should come out of it. It rejoins that 



A TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 1 23 

it is religious in its character. I again respond that if it be relig- 
ious I surely, as a religious man, have a right to discuss its or- 
thodoxy, and to counsel my brethren who belong to it. And it 
again repeats that it is political! Its religion is reduced to one 
article: 'No office for Catholics;' so of its politics: ' No office 
for foreigners.' Its religious exercises consist (occasionally) in 
rummaging into ladies' wardrobes, riding Catholics on rails, 
mocking their services, assaulting their persons, and battering 
their houses of worship. Its political exercises consist (occasion- 
ally) in killing foreigners, firing their houses, and giving their 
bodies to the flames. Its professed instrument of reform is the 
ballot-box ; and* if the ballot-box will not work to its liking, it 
destroys the ballot-box. One would suppose that a party might 
determine not to vote for Catholics or foreigners without any 
apprehension of more serious opposition than is common to po- 
litical parties generally; and certainly had the Know-nothings 
done no more than this, I should never have interfered with 
them. But what do they do? Why, they substitute a new gov- 
ernment for that which our fathers bequeathed to us — a govern- 
ment secret in its operations, despotic in its principles, and rev- 
olutionary in its tendency. Hear the sovereign power speak: 
'This organization [not/rt/-/y, brother] should be known by the 
name of the Grand Council of the United States of Amer- 
ica, and its Jurisdiction and pozver shall extend to all the States, 
Districts, and Territories of the United States of North Amer- 
ica.' This Grand Council is composed of a President, Vice- 
president, Secretary, and other officers with fixed salaries, and 
a Congress of delegates from the States. This Council has 
'power to form State, Territorial and District Councils;' to de- 
termine the '■mode of punishment of members] etc.; to grant char- 
ters to subordinate Councils that may be formed; 'to adopt 
cabalistic characters for writing or telegraphing;' 'to decide 

UPON ALL MATTERS PERTAINING TO NATIONAL POLITICS ; ' ( ! ) ' to 

fix and establish all signs, grips, pass-words, and such other se- 
cret work as may seem to be necessary; ' ' to ADOPT ANY AND EV- 
ERY MEASURE IT MAY DEEM NECESSARY TO SECURE THE SUCCESS 

of the organization.' We know the emanations from this 
august sovereignty— State, county, beat, and city governments 
all over the country — subjects sworn to paramount allegiance 
to these governments, taxed to pay their expenses, branded as 
perjurers and traitors if they disclose their secrets." 

From the volume of affidavits published by the Louisville Jour- 
nal to show that foreigners were the aggressors in the Louisville 
riots, there is one which is of awful import and painful instruc- 
tion. It is that of Thomas Jeffrey and Robert H. Haines, who 



124 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

testify that they rocre door-keepers of the Seventh Ward foils ; that 
the rule zvas to admit not more than fifteen or sixteen at a time; 
that an Irishman insisted on passing when seventeen were in; 
that he became boisterous, when Thomas Jeffrey, to prevent vio- 
lence, struck him on the head. This from Know-nothings! 

Now, sir, if you can find nothing worse in all this than an 
appeal from me to my Church to have no connection with 
Know-nothingism, you are not to be argued with. If you be- 
lieve that all this political machinery was manufactured and set 
in operation merely to keep Catholics and foreigners out of 
office, you have a much more contemptuous opinion of Know- 
nothing sagacity than I have. You stultify them, while I only 
oppose them. From their peculiar idiosyncrasies they will 
doubtless give the preference to you, but whether any other 
party would do it is questionable. If you can see no difference 
between such a combination and parties generally, and it is 
plain that you do not, you should not have referred to your own 
" history " to prove that you "consider it the right of Christians 
and Christian preachers to meddle with politics;" for it proves 
something more than your liberality, to wit: that when you 
"meddled with politics " you did both politics and yourself a 
sad disservice. (I believe the people of your district forestalled 
this inference, didn't they, brother?) 

You say, in continuation of what I have just quoted from 
you, " But I do not believe that a Church organization has suck 
right; nor, pardon my frankness, that any man can excite a 
Church to such a course without political delinquency, which I 
will not characterize as I think it deserves." You certainly 
have the most profound reverence for political parties of any 
man of your " history " that ever lived. In the defense of them 
you seem to forget all the interests of self-respect, all the duties 
of your calling, all the claims of brotherhood, and all the rules, 
not to say decencies, of controversy. You had already charged 
me with turpitude — i. e., with moral baseness, extreme depravi- 
ity — and here you insinuate that there is yet something in the 
act thus characterized so unspeakably depraved that even your 
lips refuse to give to it its proper name. Flanked as you are by 
a legion of Know-nothing Methodists, and very many legions 
of Know-nothing politicians, you may feel confident of your 
security in the Church and of a clever popular support while 
you indulge in such defamation of a brother. But you would 
do well to remember that there is another tribunal not far dis- 
tant from you and me, where words arc not weighed by the 
standard of Methodism or the world. 

Did you understand my letter, '-imply because it was headed 



A TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 



125 



"To the Methodist Church, South," as designed to excite the 
Church in its corporate character, and through its official or- 
gans, its bishops, and its Conferences to take action against the 
Know-nothings? It would seem so; and if this be jour idea, 
I do more than pardon jour candor: I commiserate jour under- 
derstanding. Where do jou find the word or syllable in my 
whole piece which indicates such a design? He who addresses 
a Church addresses the members thereof; and in what char- 
acter thej are addressed, whether as an " organization " or as 
individuals, is to be collected from the bodj of the address, and 
not from the caption alone. Had jou read mj letter with anj 
other design than to find in it grounds of censure and abuse, 
jou would have seen clearly that its whole and sole aim was 
to get the preachers and members of our Church out of and 
away from a political party, and into their appropriate work, 
not to excite a Church organization against a political party. 
But then you would have lost the laurels which you have 
gained in this contest, the everlasting gratitude of the Know- 
nothings, and the thanksgiving of one or two hundred thou- 
sand Methodists for your unlooked for interposition in their be- 
half. 

The very first sentence in my letter showed you it was one 
of a series, the antecedents of which had been addressed to the 
preachers of our Church. Had you seen these, you would have 
found that they were addressed to "The Kiicrw- nothing Preach- 
ers' 1 '' exclusively. This is decisive of the fact that, however you 
may have understood it, my design was not to act upon the 
Church in its aggregate character at all, or to unite it in action 
at all. Your positions are as preposterous as your language is 
unbecoming: "Worse than any thing in Know-nothingism, 
formally to address a Church in its aggregate capacity upon a 
POLITICAL question [italics and capitals yours]! Could you 
succeed in this design [of arraying the Church against the 
American party], the very fountain of political power would be 
immediately poisoned by a union of Church and State! " Did 
such paradoxes ever come from a doctor of divinity? I sup- 
posed a man in this country might address any person, any 
number of persons, in any character, upon any subject without 
crime, if the address be not of a nature forbidden by the laws 
of the land. Dwight used to discuss politics with his pupils. 
Everett, Wayland, Cooper, and other Presidents of colleges have 
written on politics without blame, but the like privilege is not 
granted to me — very far from it. I may not speak or write on 
politics either to the public or to my Church: not to the public, 
by the edict of the Know-nothings; not to the Church, by the 



126 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

bull of Doctor Winans. I should have thought you a hard 
master, Doctor, had you believed that my letter was likely to 
array our Church bodily against the party of your love. But 
you tell me cuttingly that no power on earth could do that. 
What, then, is the sin for which you anathematize me so cru- 
elly? Why, I wrote a letter which might, perchance, lead the 
public to suspect that I thought it -vas possible for somebody to move 
the M. E. Church, South, conglomeratedly against a political par- 
ty. Papal supremacy would be a luxury compared with your 
government, brother, if this be a specimen of it. 

But suppose that every Methodist in the United States could 
be induced to take a united stand against the American party, 
how would this produce a union of Church and State? What 
legislative, executive, or judicial power would attach to them 
in this position, or what attribute of a State would they assume? 
The only possible result of this state of things must be that the 
members of the Church would either not vote at all or vote 
against that party. How near this would bring the Church and 
State together, I leave you to determine. 

In all that I have written you will not find a word or syllable 
wmich intimates a design on my part to interfere with my breth- 
ren's right of suffrage, or their right, in a proper manner , to dis- 
cuss political questions or to oppose Catholics. It is their clan- 
ship with all characters, their letting themselves down to Know- 
nothing drills, their night-working, their needless swearing, 
their man-serving, party-scheming, office-hunting, stump-speak- 
ing, anger-stirring, brother-wounding, and Church-inflaming 
that I objected to. 

Now I put it to you as a man and Christian to say whether 
these things are right in your brethren. You will not, you dare 
not, say so. Then why do you countenance them? You have 
taken very good care (as you are particular in letting the public 
know) to keep yourself aloof from the signs and grins and pass- 
words and squalls and oaths and flag-fribble of the order, and 
yet you hold me up to the public as a culprit for counseling our 
brethren to follow your example. How far you are competent 
to defend the order, when confessedly you do not belong to it, 
I leave the public to determine. 

As to your fears of the Catholics from their increase, etc., 
Mr. Wesley gives you a recipe for them, for the success of 
which he pledges his life. He guarantees that, if strictly fol- 
lowed, it will insure the conversion of every Catholic. Here it 
U: "Let all the Protestant clergy live like the apostle6 and 
preach like the apostles, the thing is done." Most certain it is 

that Know-nothingism, which fellowships with them where 



A TILT WITH DR. WINANS. 127 

they are strong and persecutes them where they are weak, mid- 
night conspiracies to rob them of their constitutional rights, 
personal violence, mockery, ridicule, and contempt will never 
check their growth or bring their religion into discredit. If I 
wished to raise Romanism on the ruins of Protestantism, these 
are precisely the agencies that I would adopt. 

A. B. LONGSTREET. 

University of Mississippi, December 19, 1855. 



THE BURSTING OF THE STORM. 



Events hastened to their inevitable culmination, 
and in 1861 the war-cloud burst in all its fury. 
Judge Longstreet seems to have grasped the real 
situation, and had a prophetic perception of what 
was coming. South Carolina and the Federal 
Government were on the perilous edge of a conflict 
of arms. True to his sense of duty, he made an 
earnest appeal to the State authorities in behalf of 
a policy of watchfulness, patience, and prudence. 
He issued a pamphlet headed with the interroga- 
tion, "Shall South Carolina Begin the War?" in 
which he gives a picture of matters as they stood, 
and aforegleam of impending calamities so graphic 
and so prescient that it is here given to the reader 
in full: 

" Shall South Carolina Begin the War? 

" I pray the authorities and people of South Car- 
olina to put aside passion and hear patiently and 
thoughtfully what I have to say upon the present 
critical position of our beloved State. The chances 
are that I am wrong in my views, for so far as I 
have been enabled to collect the popular sentiment 
in this quarter at least eight out of ten of the wisest 
heads of the land are against me, and I have 
reached that period of life when the wisdom <it' 
age begins to give place to its weaknesses. But 
(128) 



THE BURSTING OF THE STORM 129 

the correctness of opinions is not to be estimated 
by number or by age, but by the standard of rea- 
son, and to this standard I would respectfully in- 
vite all who differ with me. This much is certain, 
that almost every man with whom I have conversed 
upon the points of difference between us shows 
manifest excitement — the poorest accompaniment 
of reason and argument that could be selected 
from the armory of mind. 

" It seems to be generally understood (and ap- 
proved of) that if the ' Harriet Lane ' attempts to en- 
ter this port she will be fired into ; and, if rumor is to 
be credited, this is to be done without parley or ex- 
planations. If I have not lost my senses, this is the 
most dangerous, useless, ill-advised measure which 
could possibly be adopted just at this time. Thus 
far the war between South Carolina and the Fed- 
eral Government has been constructive ; the first 
gun fired makes it actual. Thus far South Caro- 
lina has maintained a purely defensive position; 
this measure is openly aggressive and is to draw 
the first blood from a citizen of the United States 
and, for aught that we know, from some champion 
of the cause of South Carolina. The character in 
which the ' Harriet Lane ' approaches us we do not 
know, and cannot know if she comes with sealed 
instructions. 

"This thing is to be done just as four States are 
hastening to our embrace as fast as they can come, 
and when it is almost certain that all the slave 
States will be united with us in one grand Confed- 
eracy in less than three months; and after our 
warmest supporters among them have implored us 
9 



130 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

to wait for concert of action with them, when the 
Northern States are still obedient to the Federal 
Government, and likely to be while Buchanan re- 
mains in office; when that government is reeling, 
and in two months' time may become impotent for 
good or evil; when South Carolina is the peculiar 
object of Black Republican vengeance, and when 
they want only a tolerable pretext to visit her with 
a war of extermination before the other States can 
in due form come to her help ; when all the help 
she can hope for is impotent at sea. Her aggress- 
ive step will alarm the States which are at the point of 
secession, and perchance kindle dissension in their 
bosoms, certainly enkindle their ire against her. 
It will unite the North and the world against her. 
It will verify the dismal predictions of the submis- 
sionists, and blast the reputation of the secession- 
ists. It will precipitate South Carolina from the 
highest pinnacle of fame to the lowest depths of 
humiliation. When I think of the probability of it, 
my soul is so heavily burdened with the awful re- 
sponsibilities of the act that I can hardly bring my 
thoughts to decent order or my pen to decent 
style. If nothing else would stay the act, I would 
cheerfully surrender the power of speech and of 
hearing for the balance of my life to avert it. What 
do the advocates of this desperate measure promise 
themselves from it? ' It will unite the Southern 
States.' Are they not united already? Do not the 
rankest cowards say there must be resistance? 
Does one of them disapprove of the step which 
South Carolina has taken save as to time? And 
has she not, up to this time, repelled the objections 



THE BURSTING OF THE STORM. 131 

to her haste? Her people forced her to quick se- 
cession, and here they were satisfied with dispatch 
and perfectly willing to wait the action of her sis- 
ter States. Their representatives have been in no 
hurry. Why, then, just as we are about to reap the 
best fruits of our labors, are we going to become 
rash indeed and fling them away for the apples of 
Sodom ? May God save us from this measure ! 
Take away the apology of ' uniting the South,' 
and the act stands before the world without ex- 
cuse. 

" You cannot say that the ' Harriet Lane ' comes 
with a warlike intent; and if you could, firing into 
her is not going to defeat her intent, or advance 
the independence of South Carolina the thou- 
sandth part of a hair's breadth. But it will fur- 
nish your enemy with an admirable apology for 
filling your harbor with armed ships, turning Sum- 
ter upon Moultrie, laying waste your city, and lin- 
ing your coast with Republican hirelings. Hire- 
lings! Ay, when the war opens, it is to be 
between the bright and gallant sons of South Car- 
olina and these hirelings. Woe to the people who 
bring on such a conflict but from dire necessity! 
Is it necessary? No, no, no ! It is not only boot- 
less, desperate, but wholly unnecessary. Mr. 
Buchanan says he does not mean to attack any 
State for seceding. All the Black Republican 
presses say the same thing. But they mean to 
collect the revenues. This, to be sure, is war 
in disguise ; but practically it is harmless, and we 
will be able to keep it in disguise until the proper 
time for us to strip the monster of its veil. The 



132 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Black Republicans think and hope that when their 
collector is sent here the State will deal with him 
in some way that will justify open war upon us. 
To fire into the vessel that brings him is exactly 
the thing which they want. Hence the vessel that 
is coming is named, her dispatches are hid from 
public view (they may be peaceful or belligerent: 
something seemingly peaceful will be put into them 
for future uses), the collector is named. Now, for 
God's sake, people of South Carolina, do not fall 
into this trap. Let the collector come, let him land, 
treat him politely, introduce him to Mr. Colcock, 
and tell him you hope the collectors of the two 
sovereignties will settle their respective claims in 
the spirit of courtesy and kindness. Do this, and 
the President and the Republicans will be beauti- 
fully checkmated. All the time consumed in these 
courtesies will be bringing on your allies. The 
end of it will be that the revenues will be collect- 
ed out at sea. 

"Be it so; let them have them; let your com- 
merce go on until our Confederacy is formed. 
Before that time floating custom-houses will be 
strung all along our Southern coast, and we will 
have a Confederacy of the cotton-growing States. 
Even then I would not precipitate a war. The 
new Confederacy will certainly be acknowledged 
by France and England, and they will enter into 
treaties of commerce with us, by which they will 
obligate themselves to push the floating custom- 
houses aside and open a glorious traffic with us. 
Thus, by a little delay and the forfeiture of the 
customs for a few months, we gain every thing we 



THE BURSTING OF THE STORM. 133 

desire without the loss of one drop of blood, with- 
out spoiling our harbors, and without interrupting 
our commerce for a single hour. 

"And now for the ticklish point: suppose they 
come to strengthen the posts. If the salvation of 
the world depended upon it, could you prevent 
them from so doing? If you could not, why would 
you waste blood and treasure in attempting to do 
it? Is it any disgrace not to initiate a hopeless 
conflict? Any nation would be excused for declin- 
ing such a conflict, but no nation could be excused 
for beginning it. What must be thought of the 
nation who would begin it on the water without a 
gun-boat or a sailor to sustain it? and what sort of 
a beginning of it will it be to fire a few useless 
shots at a mere government cutter? Provoke 
open and unequal war to prevent the strengthen- 
ing of a fort which is already too strong for us ! 
Here is the beginning and the end of the plan pro- 
posed : Fire a few worthless shots at a vessel, set 
Sumter to firing upon Moultrie, hold Moultrie till 
some hundreds of our sons are buried in its ruins, 
then desert it, and wait the wrath of the United 
States upon our devoted city ! If all the forts were 
crammed full of men, they would not attack the city 
unless first attacked. If we were sure they would, 
we cannot prevent it. Why, then, in the name of 
God, bring on a war of such fearful consequences ! 
If you mean to hold Fort Moultrie, I implore you 
to let the first shot come from the enemy. Burn 
that -precept into your hearts,, if you despise all else 
that I have written. But I would abandon it now, 
putting it just as Anderson left it. But no ; it must 



134 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

be held, desperate as is the tenure, or we shall be 
called cowards. Fools may so call you, no wise 
man will. ' It must end in a war,' says one, ' and 
we'd as well bring it on at once.' It never will 
end in a war if the South will be prudent, and we 
must let no Southern State begin it; and if a South- 
ern State is to begin it, let her not begin it on the 
water. A. B. Longstreet." 

But it was too late. The crash came. The long 
and bloody war followed, and its history is before 
the world. Taking the advice he had given them, 
the students of the South Carolina College took 
the field at the first blast of the war-trumpet. The 
institution was suspended, and Judge Longstreet 
went to Oxford, Miss., drawn thither by the fact 
that this was the residence of both his daughters. 
In December, 1862, the Federal troops occupied 
that portion of Mississippi, and he refugeed to 
Georgia. In January, 1863, he was in Oxford, 
Ga. In August of that year he was at Covington, 
and in May, 1864, he was at Columbus, staying 
with Mr. Early Hurt. During this «' refugeeing " 
he was entertained by old friends and kinsfolk, and 
he was frequently afterward heard to speak of 
their boundless hospitality and kindness to him. 

The hopes and fears, the triumphs and defeats, 
the joys and agonies of those eventful years may 
not be written here. Judge Longstreet was in full 
sympathy with his people, and the final defeat was 
inexpressibly bitter to him. But neither during all 
the years of the conflict nor at its clost- did his 
trust in God for one moment fail. When the 



THE BURSTING OF THE STORM. 135 

Southern Confederacy fell, he returned to Missis- 
sippi a disappointed and chastened man, but with 
unfaltering faith and undimmed Christian hope. 

Does any reader charge Judge Longstreet with 
inconsistency? Does this plea for prudence and 
a peaceful policy make a striking contrast with the 
fiery baccalaureate address of 1859? The charge 
is not denied. But he was inconsistent only as all 
earnest and impulsive spirits were inconsisent at 
that time, changing their policy and their voices 
with the ever varying phases of the irrepressible 
conflict. A man who speaks out of his heart just 
what he feels at all times will not escape the im- 
putation of inconsistency in this changeful world. 
The only thoroughly consistent man is the one who 
feels nothing, says nothing, and does nothing. 
Judge Longstreet was not that sort of man. Driv- 
en by the gale, with chopping seas, he would reef 
sails and tack ship, and even lighten cargo some- 
what to make a peaceful port. 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 



Among the papers that escaped the fire that de- 
stroyed Judge Longstreet' s writings was found 
a pamphlet containing his reply to a Mr. Charles 
Reemelin, of Cincinnati, O., a gentlemanly infidel 
who had criticised sharply but cautiously a paper 
published in the Nineteenth Century Magazine of 
April, 1870, in which he (Judge Longstreet ) gave 
his Christian experience (quoted in a former chap- 
ter of this book). The pamphlet is reproduced 
without change or abridgment except the omission 
of one clause of a sentence which breathes an as- 
perity of feeling natural enough then but out of 
place here. Mr. Reemelin, it seems, was in polit- 
ical sympathy with Judge Longstreet, and respond- 
ed approvingly to his rather caustic strictures upon 
the course of many Northern preachers toward the 
South, and sought to base thereupon an argument 
against Christianity. The loyalty of Judge Long- 
street to the Lord Jesus Christ is delightfully man- 
ifested in the way he treats this attempt to make a 
flank movement upon his faith as a Christian, and 
he promptly runs up the red flag of battle in de- 
fense of the truth of the gospel. He was fortified 
against all such assaults by a genuine Christian 
experience. The elect cannot be deceived. Who 
are the elect? The elect are those who have the 
witness in themselves, fudge Longstreet was not 
(136) 



A TOUCH OP POLEMICS. 137 

singular in this experience. The great body of 
Christian people of the South, though their hopes 
were disappointed and their prayers were not an- 
swered in the way they desired, were unshaken in 
their belief in God and trust in his providence. 
They were shocked, stunned for the moment; but 
being rooted and grounded in the faith of the gos- 
pel, they quickly rallied the spiritual forces that 
are hid with Christ in God, beyond the reach of 
all external calamity, and during the quarter of a 
century that has followed they have made a history 
that vindicates their character as a Christian peo- 
ple and challenges the respect of the world. The 
process of reconstruction was incomplete when 
Judge Longstreet wrote his reply to his Cincinnati 
friend. The Christian statute of limitations should 
cover much that was said on both sides during those 
stormy times. And so it does with the best men on 
both sides who are now clasping hands in a fra- 
ternity that is hearty and holy, and will last. Many 
of the honest ultraists during the fight made the 
truest conservatives after it was over. They were 
men of principle, and fought for principle. The 
soldiers of fortune, turncoats, and the tardy or 
compulsory converts on either side often made up 
in malevolence what they lacked in honest convic- 
tion. Judge Longstreet was always reckoned 
among the most advanced adherents of the school 
of State rights, and to his dying day never expressed 
or felt a doubt as to the soundness of his opinions. 
If he had felt any misgivings, we may be sure he 
would have let it be known: he was incapable of 
deceit and unused to concealment. He died cher- 



138 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ishing the opinions that had grown with his growth 
and strengthened with his strength from boyhood. 
If he were living now, two things might safely be 
assumed concerning him: first, that he would have 
no apology to make for any thing honestly said or 
done by him in the past;^ second, that he would 
not be behind the foremost rank of those who, in 
this new and happier time, are marching hand in 
hand and heart to heart in the path that leads to a 
perfect national brotherhood and a unified Chris- 
tianity. He was intense and outspoken, but not 
narrow or blind. The acid that drops from his 
pen-point was the distillation of the times ; the truth 
for which he mainly contends is as eternal as its 
Source. With these suggestions, perhaps not un- 
called for, the reader is left to judge for himself 
between Mr. Reemelin and Judge Longstreet. 

"Old Things Become New." 

Controversies should be avoided between friends, for they are 
likely to lead to animosities; but there are persons to whom we 
feel obliged to explain ourselves even at the risk of a controver- 
sy, because we respect their opinions. The article under the 
above heading, in the April number of the Nineteenth Century, 
is written by such a gentleman, and deserves such a notice. 

Judge Longstreet, the writer of the article, has all the charac- 
teristics of a person whose convictions on any subject arc from 
his very nature deeply religious, and lie, perhaps, not knowing 
it. His strength and his weakness lie in this: his intensifica- 
tion in all things. The first, because he espouses every cause 
with sincere fervor; the second, because his zeal obscures his 
vision, so that he sees both too much and too little of any sub- 
ject which, for the time being, engages his mind. Ami to his 
friends it is really difficult to decide whether to love him most 
for ] ii>, vigor or his softness. This is our difficulty; for he asks 
us, placing us in conjunction with Agassiz and llein/cn. to not 
disenchant him of his delusion, as he pleadingly calls it mean- 
ing his faith in a God, a Mediator between God and man, and 
the Christian religion. It is not for us to object to being men- 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 39 

tioned, in the same breath, with the two great men just named, 
as if we were one in purpose with them, but doubtless they 
would. Mr. Agassiz is a regular scientilic man, we are an am- 
ateur, and Mr. Heinzen soars so high for liberty that we can 
hardly see him, much less loosen the latches of his shoes. 

Dropping the others and speaking for ourselves alone, we say 
that surely we respect every man's religious ideas, and the 
judge may keep all his religious views for all we care; for, as 
we have already intimated, the gentleman is nothing if he be 
not religious, and we love him too much to wish him to be 
nothing. But this solicitude for him, according to the very 
tones of his character, cannot with propriety impose upon us 
entire silence, especially when we know that our observations 
will do the gentleman much good without at all upsetting any 
of his idealities. 

We allow ourselves, therefore, to remark, in the first place, 
that it has always been marvelous to us that minds like those of 
Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Bishop Polk, and A. B. 
Longstreet did not see from the first that their most unrelent- 
ing foes came from Northern Christian Churches. The fact 
that the first split between North and South occurred in the 
several religious sects might have led any discerning mind to 
see that the subsequent political imbroglio was an inevitable se- 
quence of the former. The only reason why we had no open 
religious war was because our religious governments had no 
carnal weapons of their own. The Federal Government was 
made to carry on the war as an after-thought, but that did not 
make it an actual civil war any more than the Thirty Years War 
was such because emperors, kings, and dukes carried it on. 

The founder of the Christian religion spoke, in all innocence 
we admit, the fatal words that have made the Christian relig- 
ion a sword instead of a pacificator to mankind. Christ said: 
" Go ye into the world, and preach the gospel." That order 
to his apostles, taken up by their successors (the priests), has 
cost the people of Europe rivers of blood. Under it all their an- 
cient natural religious and ethical development has been up- 
rooted, as far as zealous clergy could do so; and my native land 
is yearning to-day, if she but understood her innermost long- 
ings, for her own religion; and my mind could never distinguish 
why it was wrong for Varus to bring us Roman civilization if it 
was right in St. Boniface to carry to vis Roman religion. 

In our humble opinion, the most precious right of a people is 
their own self-development in law and ethics. That right is no 
right, if the Christian idea is correct that all mankind are to 
have but one religion, and that the sooner this happens the bet- 



I40 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ter. We hold this notion to be both erroneous and destructive 
of human peace. We cannot, of course, argue that question 
now in cxte?iso, for it would lead us away from the very point 
we must, in kindness to Southern minds, enforce. It is this: 
that all our contests with the South originate in the spirit which 
is nursed by the words of Christ which we have quoted. The 
Abolitionists were, in their minds, but Christian missionaries, 
and sent by precisely the same people who support Christian 
missions in foreign lands; and does not the whole system of 
Missions rest on the denial of the right of every people to gov- 
ern themselves? Does it not rest on the assumption that cer- 
tain portions of mankind have a superior religion suitable for 
all mankind, and which should be universally imposed? 

This claim of superiority did not originate with Christ; it 
was the fundamental idea of Abraham, and it is the basis of all 
Moses enjoined upon the Jews. Under it, he ordered the Jews 
to commit cruelties so revolting that they themselves recoiled 
from them under Joshua; and instead of killing all the old so- 
journers of the holy land, made humane agreements with them. 

The Mosaic idea had, however, a circumscribed location, and 
it was comparatively harmless, as it enjoined no aggressors on 
any other nations than the dwellers in Canaan; but Christ and 
St. Paul especially gave it universality, making proselytes be- 
come, in pursuance thereof, a favorite Christian occupation, and 
any one mingling much with zealous Christians must, if he do 
not flee for shelter to some sect, have felt the offensiveness 
which is always a part of their character. That offensiveness 
brought on our Civil War. 

The very fundamental principle of our Federal Government 
— to wit, that that government is, and ought to be, one of strict- 
ly limited functions, and that each State has a right to deter- 
mine for itself its own religious, social, and political law- is 
diametrically opposed to the Christian religion, for its basis is 
unity, not union. 

The people of the several States might have seen long ago 
this antagonism; but they were so blinded by their - 
which, by the by, never was caused by our institutions, but ex- 
isted in spite of them, that they failed to see the very plainest 
indications of the direction whence came the irrepressible con- 
flict. Nine-tenths of the clergy of America were always dis- 
loyal to our Federal Union; they were and are loyal to the unity 

of a civil government, provided it recognizes the Bible as the 
standard of truth. We know that there were some ministers 
who were true to an honest construction <>f our Constitution, 

but they were the exceptions, even in the South. 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 141 

Judge Longstreet was one of these; but why? Because his 
mind needed a fervor which, under his education, he believed 
that he had to seek in religion. Had he analyzed his inner 
self, and had it ever become entirely clear that his religion was 
really religiosity, and that it needed only an object to break 
forth, he would then have understood that he would satisfy the 
longings of his mind in ethics and politics, as indeed he had to 
do when the Northern iron entered his soul. 

And right here we claim the privilege to reiterate what we 
have said previously in our essay on Church and State — viz., 
that nearly every human problem is in essence always a relig- 
ious problem. The modern distinction between politics and 
religion is very apt to mislead, and is in fact the great stum- 
bling-block in the popular mind. All the progress in our age 
proceeds directly from two developments: First, an extension 
of the sphere of knowledge, and consequently a diminution in 
the sphere of dogmatism, being really what we call religion; 
and, secondly, by a largely increased production of wealth 
through the sciences and mechanics. 

Our friend exhibits (on page 847) the usual adroitness of re- 
ligionists. He attributes all the bad among men to some in- 
herent human viciousness, and he calls it " selfishness." We 
would not interpose one word of objection if we thought that 
he uses the word (selfishness) in the sense of an undue, excess- 
ive self-love, one that violates the rights of others to secure its 
own ends; but we see too plainly that he employs the word in 
the usual clerical way, as if self-love was per se sinful. The 
Christian Church has always confounded the two words, and 
from this cause it has fostered an asceticism — yea, a cynicism — 
with a minimum of human enjoyment, and declared it a meri- 
torious practice. That has always been, and is to-day, in the 
way of all human advancement, wherever it has existed or does 
exist. In this country Methodism has carried it out most zeal- 
ously, and teetotalism, an austere Sabbath, and other narrow dis- 
ciplines have grown out of it. 

Self-love and selfishness are, however, two very different things. 
The first is a duty, the second a vice. From the proper pursuit of 
the first spring all the enjoyments of the human race; from the 
unchecked pursuit of the second, all its miseries. This distinc- 
tion underlies all social life and all public authority. How to 
free proper self-love, and how to limit selfishness, is the funda- 
mental criterion of all good ethics. Our history illustrates this 
on every page. The United States were united and happy while 
all the people in every State were allowed to have free self-love; 
they became divided and miserable the more certain people were 



142 JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 

permitted to carry out their selfishness. There is not an ahuse 
of Federal authority which does not originate in sectional selfish- 
ness, while on the other hand the exercise of all the legitimate 
functions is less compatible with self-love. The tariff , organized 
office-seeking, corrupt contracts, interference with slavery, had 
all one fountain — Northern selfishness — while Jefferson's and 
Jackson's votes, and the resistance of the South in loose con- 
structions of the Constitution, were all proper excretes of self- 
love. 

We wonder if the Judge has ever reflected whether it is ex- 
actly fair to ascribe all the good in society to a certain religion, 
and all the ill to something else. Surely for fifteen hundred 
years we have had Christianity in power; and if this human 
power still sins and quarrels, whose fault is it? No religion 
breeds so many hypocrites as the Christian. Shall we tell our 
friend why? It is because Christianity claims to unhumanize 
us — that is to say, to turn us into angels. Striving in vain to be 
the latter, but nevertheless ever professing to be it, turns Chris- 
tians into walking contradictions to their doctrines. -Vim high 
is a good rule, but that high must be possible. 

A wise religiosity is good everywhere: it graces the Turk, 
the Buddhist, and the Christian. But religious zealotism is bad 
everywhere: it disgraces every one who harbors it. All relig- 
ions contain sound ethics, all Churches teach wicked dogmas. 
Let us tell Judge Longstreet that he would have been a good 
man no matter where his religiosity had found its point of 
adoration. 

In conclusion we must be permitted to add that Mr. Long- 
street's religiosity is in no danger at all. His religion may be, 
but not from us especially, nor Henizen nor Agassiz. There is 
now in every school-room, every lyceum, every college, every 
university- -yea, in every newspaper — indeed, in our very pulpits, 
something being promulgated which you may scold as "infidel 
science;" but which every hammer that falls, every wheel that 
turns, every railroad, every telegraph, every chemical labora- 
tory, every nursery, every shop, and every farm bears witness 
to, 'and it is the superiority of exacl knowledge over dogma. 
Away is fleeting, in consequence hereof, the old arbitrary God 
and arbitrary religion. In lieu of it we have ethics (religion) 
tried by the light of the true legalities as deduced by logical 
analysis. America is doing less in this than Europe. Why? 
Because it is still most trammeled by obsolete religious ideali- 
ties, and because its people will not cany out their u'"">l Fed* 

eral law — viz., to let each other he free in their several States. 

L'. IvIlMl 1 IN. 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 143 

Reply of Judge Longstreet. 

To Mr. Charles Reemelin: No Christian ever entertained a 
higher respect for a deist than I do for you. There is no better 
clue to the character of a man than his writings when he writes 
much and upon various subjects. Now you have written much 
and upon a greater variety of subjects, I judge, than any man of 
your age living who has never edited a newspaper; and upon all, 
except one, you write admirably. But when you get upon that 
one, allow me to say in language which cannot offend (for it is 
your own) I do not know which to admire most, "your vigor or 
your softness." It is the only subject upon which we differ, and 
it is the only one in which you and I have an undying personal 
interest. I learned from your pen that you were careful in form- 
ing your opinions, and fearless but gentle in avowing them ; that 
you were an honest, upright, independent, candid, highly culti- 
vated man; that you were a lover of truth and an ardent seeker 
of it wherever you wished to find it, and that you wished to find 
it in all places but one; and that you did not wish to find it in 
that place because you had heard from the lips of a thousand 
witnesses that truth in that place was a different sort of thing en- 
tirely from that picked up daily all over the fields of science. 
There, truth assumes the offensive as a living entity, and scorches 
the fingers of all mere self-reliant philosophers who touch it. I 
see very plainly from your article before me that you have never 
extended your research at all, much less your characteristic dil- 
igence of research to that place. You have taken either upon 
trust or upon cursory and unsystematic readings all you know 
about it. 

Now, sir, I have complimented you broadly ; but I have the 
climax of compliment yet in reserve. I declare most sincerely 
and solemnly, in the face of all men, that nothing would rejoice 
me more than to hear, while I am writing this sentence, that 
Charles Reemelin, of the city named after Cincinnatus, a foreign- 
er and an infidel, had been proclaimed Dictator of the United 
States for four years on his simple promise to administer the 
government according to the Constitution as he understands it. 
Now, sir, I understand as well how compliments should be man- 
aged to make them palatable and inoffensive as anybody; but 
these are compliments of an entirely new stamp. They are com- 
pliments not of flattery, but of self-defense ; for in every piece 
that I have written for The Nineteenth Century, save one, and so 
often in every piece, have I twitted you upon your religion (for 
you have a religion) that I deem it but sheer justice to you and 
myself to give you the most decisive proofs that this covert way 
of tantalizing you was not chosen from any want of respect to 



144 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

you or secret malignity in me. There -was even a compliment 
in it, but one which nobody in the world could understand but 
the author of it. I had long learned to admire you, before I 
learned that you were an undisguised deist. Upon making this 
discovery this train of reflections rose in my mind: "If there is 
an honest, candid infidel upon earth, I think Charles Reemelin is 
the man, whilst I claim to be equally candid and honest in my 
belief of the truth of the Christian religion. He belongs to the 
German school of infidels — the worst and most hell-feeding tribe, 
in my opinion, that God ever permitted to nibble upon and per- 
vert his holy word. Infidels ot the old school were content to at- 
tack the leading and fundamental principles of the gospel, to 
point out errors in Christ's teaching and misunderstandings of 
him by his ministers; to impeach the veracity of the evangelists, 
and bring contempt on his Church. But this new school gath- 
ered to themselves the whole armory of science and com- 
menced the sapping and mining process. They deliberately 
and industriously set themselves to work to confound the 
language of Scripture and to unsettle its foundations by mul- 
titudinous scraps of profane history never brought to light 
before. This done, and of course priests are Babelized, Bocks 
are tantalized, and sinners tranquilizcd. The priests must now 
quit their proper work and renew their Hebrew, Greek, and 
Latin studies, and begin where they left off (at the sense) and 
Avork carefully down to the jots and tittles. They must now 
study history "anew, not to learn the prominent events and actors 
of the past, but the non-essentials of history. They undertake 
the task, accomplish it with success, and expose the sappers. 
But in the meantime the fire of religion that was in them has 
gone out, their flocks languish, and their converts are few. They 
are now more knowing preachers than ever they were, and more 
worthless preachers than ever. They preach entirely above the 
poor and ignorant for whose marked "benefit the gospel was given 
and to whose humble capacity its language was accommodated, 
and preach theology, which in iiaiiic is God's word, hut in fact 
men's quarrels over if at best their defense of it, when it should 
he setting men on the defense of themselves. Hence the relig- 
ion of Germany (what there is of it) is in the main as old as an 
icicle, as spiritless as a corpse, ami as slow-moving a- a snail. 
Now I desire to engage an infidel of this new school in pub- 
lic debate with a man who learns Scripture from Scripture, who 

rejects at a dash all history \\ hich comes in conflict with evangel- 
ical history as certainly false, who asserts in the face of tin- Ecu- 
menical Council now sitting and of all the archbishops and bishops 
of the world that he has a witness in himself that the gospel is 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 145 

the word of God, and that if they have it not they had better be 
feeding 'upon the milk of the word,' than offering 'strong 
meat' to their flocks." 

Well, I have found my man, and now for the debate. "It has 
always," say you, "been marvelous to us that minds like those 
of Stonewall Jackson, Bishop Polk, Jefferson Davis, and A. B. 
Longstreet did not see that their most unrelenting foes came 
from the Northern Christian Churches." Whether they were the 
most " unrelenting' 1 '' of our foes may be questioned, but that they 
were (with noble exceptions) the most man-astounding, God-of- 
fending foes that we had I readily concede. But "give the devil 
his due." They did not bring on the war; they did not desire 
to do it. Their worst desire was that the slaves should rise up 
fiously and cut their owners' throats (vide " Uncle Tom," gun in 
hand). Their madness had worked out its legitimate and final 
results long before the dissolution of the Union. They had rent 
the Churches in twain, and the two divisions had settled down 
in quiet in their respective spheres of labor as early as 1847. 
The Northern Churches built the car of Juggernaut and pushed 
it as far South as they could ; but it never crushed a pig while it 
was in their hands, and it never would have crushed a man 
while it was in their keeping. But the Northern politicians took 
it in hand, first the Whigs and then the Democrats; and now it 
came thundering South, armed with fire-brands, Whigs and 
Democrats rivals in their zeal to push it forward and equally 
charmed with the music and the sight of the cracking bones and 
spouting blood of the men with whom they were but yesterday 
in the closest bonds of fellowship that ever bound man to his 
fellow-man of different latitudes ! None but slaves were spared , 
and they were spared and they were encouraged by a usurped 
authority to rise up ■wickedly and cut their masters' throats under 
the protection of Federal bayonets. 

Thus you see that the ruin which has come upon my section 
of the country and the disgrace which has come upon yours 
were the joint work of a Christ-taught band and a science- 
taught band — my brethren and yours. Mine forsook the Con- 
stitution of God which they had vowed to obey ; yours forsook 
the Constitution of the country which they had sworn to obey. 
Do the sins of mine prove that there is no Constitution of God, 
or that it is faulty, any more than the sins of yours prove that 
there is no Constitution of the country, or that it is faulty? 
God, as you read him, was very well pleased, or very indiffer- 
ent to these innocent sports of his most favored people; God, as 

10 



146 



y l ' D GE LONGS TREE T. 



I read him, will mctc out to every man of them the exact 
measure of punishment due to his crime.* You proceed: 

"The fact thai the iirst split between the North and .South oc- 
curred in the several religious sects might have convinced any 
discerning man that the subsequent political embroglio was an 
inevitable sequence cjf the former. The only reason why we 
had no open religious war was because our religious govern- 
ments had no carnal weapons of their own. The Federal Gov- 
ernment was made to cany on the war as an after-thought." 

Suppose all this is admitted, what is the ergo of it? (to speak 
after the manner of your countrymen who have taught me to 
talk of the "ego" and the " non-ego "). Doj ou feel that the war 
which we have had was a blessing compared with what a Church 
war would have been? Everybody saw that the division of the 
Churches would be followed by a division of the States, but no- 
body saw that "t/ie last was <ni inevitable sequence of the first. ." The 
Northern Churches might have stormed and raged against the 
Southern people till doomsday, and the people of the South 
would never have felt the scratch of a pin or the loss of a cent 
had not the riders at Washington anticipated the visions of bliss 
with which your article concludes. After parading before us 
the wonderful fruits of science, you say: "Away is fleeting, in 
consequence thereof, the old arbitrary God and arbitrary relig- 
ion. In lieu of it we have ethics (religion) tried by the light of 
the true legalities as deduced by logical analysis." How did 
you come to overlook the fact that your paradise (pardon me, 
your elysium) had already come to the Congress of the ; 
States and their elect at least. Congress had long before the 
year 1861 put away God (I cannot speak of him as you d 
his religion and become proselytes of your Church. 

Annually did they (the ruling body 1 go up to the temple ded- 
icated to liberty, fraternity, truth, and justice; and after offering 
up prayer to God through their chaplain for his blessing and 
guidance in the service upon which they were entering, they 
laid their hands upon the evangelists and swore to support and 
defend the Constitution of their country, and before the oath had 

time to he welcomed in hell they proposed measures which they 
admitted to lie unconstitutional. When asked to explain them- 
selves, their answer was i n Mich perfect keeping with your relig- 
ion that I give it fairly in your own language: "1 swear to sup- 
port the Constitution. True, I take the oath, because I could 
not get in Congress without taking it. I violate it without any 

* We used to have a Btnart sprinkle of Southern Dniversalists before 
the war. 1 have not in ard -i "in since i( i . They wen smart pi 
learned In the Scriptures, and adroit debate is. What hoa be< me oi them ? 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 47 

scruples of conscience, because 'tried by the light of the true legali- 
ties as deduced by logical analysis? I regard it as of no force what- 
ever when it comes in conflict with the true and higher legalities.' 1 '' 
Since those days your ethical divinity has been so universally 
adopted by the rulers of the land that you may well be encour- 
aged to hope that it will soon sweep this country at least. They 
have virtually burned up the Constitution (the oath alone escap- 
ing), and still they take it with true ethical devotion. What do 
they now mean, friend Charles, when tried by the true legalities 
as deduced by logical analysis? 

"The founder of the Christian religion," say you, "spake, in 
all innocence we admit, the fatal words which have made the 
Christian religion a sword, instead of a pacificator, to all man- 
kind. Christ said: ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the gos- 
pel.' That order to his apostles, taken up by their successors, the 
priests, has cost the people of Europe rivers of blood." 

You quote but half the text, and that half inaccurately, but 
obviously with no design to mislead. You give us enough of 
it, and correctly enough, to place jour argument from it fairly 
before the public, and to enable me to offer a satisfactory refu- 
tation of it; but to give my response its full force, it is neces- 
sary that I give it entire: "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." 
(Mark xvi. 15, 16.) Matthew adds: "Teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 

The way you introduce the text suggests to my mind one of 
the most novel and curious questions that ever engaged the 
thoughts of man. You admit that Christ spoke the words quoted, 
and that "he spake them in all innocence ." Now the question is : 
What does innocence mean when predicated of words as spoken 
by one raised from the dead ? Christ spoke these -words after his 
resurrection, and my old failing head cannot divine by what 
standard their guilt or innocence is to be measured. Pray en- 
lighten me upon this subject. Your words imply that Christ's 
were innocent in the superlative degree. Is there a kind of in- 
nocence between heaven and earth which is not known in 
either? Christ spoke the words as a lawgiver. Can mere 
commands savor of guilt or innocence in heaven or earth, or 
between the two? But enough of this. 

You admit that such a person as Jesus Christ did exist; that 
he had followers obedient to his commands; that he command- 
ed them to go forth and preach the gospel to every creature; 
that they went; and you say this order of Christ, executed by 



148 



J UDGE L OXGS TREE T. 



them and taken up by their successors (the priests), has cost the 
people of Europe rivers of blood. The order was to preach the 
gospel. In the whole of it there is not one word calculated to 
set men together by the ears, not one word calculated to stir 
an angry passion, not one word of encouragement to vice in 
any form, not an indecent word. Its teachings ran through all 
the relations of the human family; and wherever they went, 
they blessed if followed. Wherever they go now, they bless if 
followed. Men's relation to God is unfolded in accents of ten- 
derness, encouragement, and love. It points out to them those 
sins which touched none but himself, and which were without 
the poor apology of even a temptation — profane swearing, tak- 
ing his name in vain, ingratitude, estranging themselves from 
him, asking him for nothing, thanking him for nothing. As 
between man and man, generally, that gospel taught love, peace, 
non-resistance, and forgiveness of injuries; industry, kindness 
to the poor and the distressed. To rulers, it taught justice and 
righteousness; to subjects, submission and prayer for their rul- 
ers. As between man and wife, it forbade divorces save for one 
cause: enjoined upon them mutual love and constancy. It 
threw a safeguard around this sacred relation and its loveliest 
fruits by forbidding all men the indulgence even for a moment 
of an adulterous thought or an adulterous look. To children it 
taught love, obedience, and reverence to their parents; to mas- 
ters, kindness, gentleness, and equity to their servants; to serv- 
ants, obedience to their masters. It taught that man i- a sinner 
by nature, and how he became such; but that so being, he was 
-wholly unfitted for that close and endless fellowship with his 
Maker to which Christ had come to invite him and to prepare 
him. The process of preparation was such as never did and 
never could enter into the head of any mere man. The means 
seem to have no sort of connection with the result, the result no 
natural connection with the means. It was to begin in sadness 
and end in joy (poor encouragement to commence the process); 
it was to renovate ami revolutionize man's whole moral nature 
in a twinkling without the labor of a day, the study of an hour, 
or the expense of a dime on his part. Heme men might hope 
for the change to the latest hour of their lives. Repentance 
ami faith are the only conditions imposed upon them. But how- 
can they repent when they love sin and believe it harmless? 
Christ saw this difficulty, and he infused into his gospel a power 
to lead men to repentance. 

Such is a meager epitome of Christ's gospel. IK- lived out 

every precept of it to the letter. He was the embodiment ami 
the perfection of all that i> lovely in the human character. In 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 49 

his gospel he inserted one precept which, if strictly obeyed, 
would supersede all the laws of man for all the time of his ex- 
istence: '•'•All things whatsoever ye -would that men should do unto 
you, do ye even so to them" And another which would super- 
sede all the laws of God to man until they unite in heaven: 
"Love the Lord thy God -with all thy heart, and zvith all thy soul, and 
vjith all thy mind." 

Now, sir, is it impossible in the nature of things that the sim- 
ple preaching of this gospel could, by natural consequence, ever 
draw one drop of blood from the veins of man while the world 
stands. The first blood that it ever cost mankind was the blood 
of its preacher. Gentle, harmless, artless creatures, they went 
forth and delivered Christ's message of love to mankind, and 
what was the consequence? They were chained and impris- 
oned; they were whipped; they were stoned; they were made 
to right with wild beasts ; they were burned to death ; they were 
driven from city to city, and tortured in every mode which in- 
genuity could invent or cruelty execute. All this, not for a 
year or a hundred years, but (with short intervals) for centu- 
ries; all this from the votaries of that peaceful, liberal, independ- 
ent pagan religion, which you openly regret was ever supplant- 
ed by the arbitrary, vindictive, bloody Christian religion. But the 
wonder of all wonders is that Christ foretold to these mission- 
aries that they would meet with just such treatment as the re- 
ward of their fidelity to him in this world; but he bid them 
stand fast, endure all, resist none, abuse none, but to persist in 
doing his bidding, and he would reward them with endless life 
and endless bliss in another world. 

Now if Jesus Christ ordered these all-confiding servants to 
go forth and preach his gospel, knowing that it would bring 
upon them all these calamities, and not knowing that he had 
the power, or rather knowing that he had not the power, to ful- 
fill those promises to them, God save you, Mr. Reemelin! He 
did not give " the order in all innocence," nor in any innocence. 
He had changed characters with his tempter, and become a 
better representative of hell than of heaven. And if these mis- 
sionaries went forth to preach the gospel with a foreknowledge 
of the calamities which it was to bring upon them, and persist- 
ed in preaching it in the agony of these calamities, with no bet- 
ter assurance of his ability to fulfill his promises than that he 
was a man of truth, then they were not merely unlettered, but 
the most arrant fools that ever trod the face of this earth. But 
they did preach, and in such manner as to lead thousands and 
tens of thousands to believe. There was one learned man 
among them who delivered a few words so opposite to our 



150 JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 

present positions that, were I over-credulous, I might be led to 
believe they were an insj i ration intended for our special bene- 
fit. Here they are: "Where is the disputer of this world?" 
(In Cincinnati.) "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of 
this world?" (L., yes; R., no.) 

"For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom 
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to 
save them that believe." 

Paul accounts, in part at least, for the success of the preach- 
ing, but doc* not account for the supply of preachers under 
such discouragements. Now say that they saw their Master 
v. hile in life heal every species of disease again and again by 
his word; give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to 
the dumb, life to the dead, stillness to the storm, and quiet to 
the waves in like manner; that they saw him walk on the wa- 
ter, bring tribute-money from the mouth of a fish, feed four 
thousand at one time and five thousand at another with a few- 
loaves and fishes; heard him say that he would suffer death, 
and the third day rise again; saw him die, and conversed with 
him alive on the third day — say they saw and heard all these 
things, or the half of them, or "the quarter of them, and their 
seeming madness is fully accounted for. But there is a mys- 
tery connected with this matter, which it is much harder to ex- 
plain upon any principle of human nature. 

The preachers who witnessed these things 6oon died or were 
killed off, and their places were Supplied by others nothing be- 
hind them in zeal, steadfastness, and death-daring intrepidity, 
who witnessed none of these things; anil the line of succession 
has been kept up to this day by at /<■</.</ two genuine Christians 
tx> the Church in all the Northern Churches. There may be 
vastly more. How is this to be accounted for? They first 
learned Christ's words and character from their immediate 
precursors, who avouched their testimony themselves by mira- 
cles performed in Christ's name. Before these second of the 
order disappeared, two of the first wrote out a full histor 
Christ, which we have at this day. Now we find Chrisl saying 
therein that he would build his Church upon a rock, and that 
the gates of hell should n<>; prevail against it. In our text he 
says: "And, lo, 1 am with you ahvav. even unto the end of tin 
world." This accounts for the succession of his ministers, their 
perseverance under all dangers, and their triumph over all 
other religions. The dead but risen Christ was with them. 

Now, friend Charles, 1 will frankly surrender to you if you 
account for all these wonders upon purely rational or natural 
principles to the satisfaction of an\ pure-minded man. 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 151 

disinter Gfbbons's five fooleries (called reasons) for the rise, 
rapid progress, spread, and final triumphs of Christianity. 
Should they occur to you, read Faber's " Difficulties of In- 
fidelity " (p*. 120 and on), where you will find them demol- 
ished in a way exactly to your liking — viz., " by the light of the 
true rationalities deduced by logical analysis." Faber is a con- 
stant and mortal dealer in syllogism, and I advise you to study 
his book carefully before it comes to my turn to attack your re- 
ligion; for if you can answer him, you have nothing to fear 
from me. Do not remind me of the number of religions which 
have been and now are in the world in proof that religions are 
easily got up, and their votaries easily persuaded that they all 
come from God. As well might you point to the number of 
meeting-houses and churches in the world in proof that it is an 
easy matter to get up a St. Peter's and a St. Paul's (London). 
By the way, think of these structures and their names in con- 
nection with Peter on the cross and Paul under the lash. The 
number of false religions implies that there is one true one. 
But I have nothing to do with other religions. I say the Chris- 
tian religion could not have been established by the means em- 
ployed, lived through all opposition eighteen hundred years, 
and become the religion of the world's luminaries if it had not 
been ordained of God. And while upon this subject I will dis- 
pose of another argument (allusion rather) of yours of kindred 
character. You point to the hypocrites in the Church in proof 
of the baseness of its religion. True, there are many, more and 
worse, in this country at least, I believe, than there ever were 
before. But they are not all hypocrites by many. And if you 
Avish to see our religion in its true beauty and loveliness, go 
there among those who, amidst all the storms which have rent 
the Churches and the State, have walked straight in the old 
paths of Methodism which Asbury and McKendree trod through- 
out the white man's region, and blazed out through the red 
man's wilds — undisturbed by his war-whoop, warmed by his 
council-fires, and fed with his venison and his sofky. They 
went with Jesus in their hearts and his Bible in their pockets; 
they feared no harm, and they received none. Here you have 
a clue to my choice of Churches. But to the point. You sec 
that I am no apologist for hypocrites, but permit me to say that 
there never was one coined in the Church since it was estab- 
lished: they are all of the world's mint. In their native ele- 
ment they are so exactly of the specific gravity of the murky 
fluid in which they float, and so nearly homogeneous with it in 
properties, that no eye ever sees him. But when they precipi- 
tate themselves into the golden sea of the true Church, thev are 



152 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

quite too light for their clement, and they soon float up to the 
surface, where they attract the gaze of all men as vcrv Ugly 
things very unfitly seated. Now, dropping the figure, I will 
demonstrate to you that this is all true. Hypocrites do not re- 
main long in the Church before they come out or are turned 
out; and now if they be men of talents, means, or family con- 
nections, how are they received by their old friends and recent 
revilers? Very charitably, if not very joyously. We hear of 
no more of their hypocrisy, but we very often hear of their 
being favorite and successful candidates for office. A hypocrite 
is but a counterfeiter, and no man ever counterfeited base metal 
or cheap morals. You see, then, that your judgment upon the 
Church from hypocrites who join it is diametrically opposite to 
what it should be. And here, while speaking of indirect com- 
pliments to Christianity by men who abuse it, let me mention 
one to which, though it covers a very broad surface, and 1 have 
often been made the medium of it, I cannot give a name. Cer- 
tainly f regard it as any thing but a compliment to me upon the 
whole. I was as honest a man before I professed religion as I 
was afterward; and so I supposed the world in general and 
Georgia in particular thought me, for up to this time I had only 
to ask her for office to get it. Well, after I appeared before my 
generous constituents in my new character, and they had put 
me upon probation long enough to try my faith, here they came 
with brand new tokens of their confidence. If large sums 
of money were to be borne from place to place whence and 
whither I was going, they were sure to be put in my hands, 
greatly to my discomfort. If wives and daughters were to be 
put in charge of any one for long routes, I was sure to be first 
choice if I could be. This, always a pleasurable service (taking 
care of baggage always excepted) sometimes, I presume often, 
brought me into very flattering comparison with very honest, 
upright neighbors of the world. As I cannot recall the in- 
stances, 1 must guess at the manner, which I am sure is true In 
substance if not to the letter: 

"Pa, I've just heard thai if ma and I will postpone our trip 

to four days, we can go in charge of Judge Longstreet 

through the w hole route." 

" Why, is the Judge going? I am rejoiced to hear it. I felt 
a little uneasy at putting you in charge of friend Smith, for he 
sometimes thai is if you should happen to be taken sick by the 
way, you would greatlj incommode Mr. Smith, who goes In .1 
hurry. I much prefer the Judge; but it will not look so well, 
Smith has kirn I t take charge of you, to tell him 

that you prefer to wail foui days to go with Judge Long6treet." 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 53 

"Ah well, husband, you need feel no scruples on that score, 
for I told Sarah yesterday that we would have to work with all 
our might to get ready by day after to-morrow." 

"Why, Mary, you have been in a greater szvivet to get off 
than Mr. Smith has." 

"Well, yes, I have; because I saw that if we lost this oppor- 
tunity we would not have another till Mr. Jones goes the last 
of next week, and I'd a thousand times rather go with Mr. 
Smith than Mr. Jones. So you may tell Mr. Smith with truth 
that we won't be ready to go the day after the morrow, though 
we have w r orked hard to get ready " 

Now this is a picture drawn from real life — from almost 
every-day life — and you have seen it played out in substance or 
in kind one hundred times, perhaps, in the course of your life; 
and it shows, and in the only way in which it could be im- 
pressively shown, or I would not have adopted it, how men, 
women, and children are constantly complimenting Christian- 
ity when none of them dreamed of it. I could multiply in- 
stances of this kind from my own observation to an intolerable 
length in trades and money dealings, in petty trusts, in the 
most sacred trusts of earth — the unbosoming of husbands and 
wives to me as their mutual friend and confidant in their pain- 
ful differences between each other. So of parents and chil- 
dren. But I stop, for it just occurs to me that this may be taken 
for self-compliment. The idea will vanish when I declare that 
none of these things did I ever know till I joined the Church. 
They are what we call in law negatives pregnant, which are 
quite as strong as proofs positive ; and their universal preva- 
lance among mankind shows conclusively that it is not because 
religion is unlovely in the sight of sinners that they do not em- 
brace it, but because the liberty of sinning is more lovely. 

You complain of the Christian religion as encroaching upon 
your liberty of speech and conscience. This amazes me. You 
are a foreigner; I am a native. Since the war you and negroes 
have had the most unbounded liberty of speech and conscience. 
Until lately, I have had neither. The intruder upon your lib- 
erty has been exceedingly mild and gentle; the intruder upon 
mine has been the embodiment of a hundred Haynaus without 
his humanity. Here again you unwittingly bestow a high com- 
pliment upon religion. Your complaint shows that it annoys 
you, and my answer to it shows that it controls you. Now your 
true meaning is not that Christianity disturbs you, but the real 
and pretended professors disturb you. How have they acquired 
this power? Numerically, they are but about as one to ten of the 
irreligious of the land. Now, " by the light of the true ration- 



154 



JUDGE LONGSTREET. 



alitics deduced by logical analysis," they should have been put 
down, and their principles crushed out or shut up in their own 
bosoms long ago. But the miraculous fact is that they have 

somehow so wrought upon the moral sense of the great ma SCS 
of the people as to render Christianity more popular than infi- 
delity — -popular, I mean, in the common sense of the term. Now 
majorities are never just, never tolerant, never even courteous t> 
minorities. This majority (rather some of them and the most of 
them) treat infidels with insult and contempt, and this is the 
treatment of which you complain and justly complain. Bui it is 
not the sin of Christianity or true Christians j for. though i'. i- ad- 
mitted that these last are the most dogmatical denouncer- of in- 
fidelity in the world, their denunciation would be pointless and 
ridiculous if your people did not follow their example without 
their apology for it. I have an apology for them, but withhold 
it because I can argue the question more to my satisfaction, at 
least, with the measure of their iniquity in your hands than 
mine. Thus you see that the sin of your persecution lies heavier 
at the door of your people than mine. 

The great fault of the Christian religion, in your estimation, 
and that which has been the source of all the miseries which it 
has brought upon the world, is that it claims to be the only true 
religion, and that it will allow mankind to have no other. Well, 
that is precisely the character of our religion, and it has always 
been enforced exactly as you are enforcing yours now, except 
that persuasion and entreaty (often with tears) are implements 
of it- warfare, but never of yours. Why, man. are you not only 
morally blind, so that you cannot sec the truth as it is hi Christ, 
but physically blind, so that you cannot even see your adver- 
sary? Here we stand before the world in contrast: you the 
champion of your religion, I the champion of mine: you con- 
tending that yours is true, I contending that mine is true; you 
supporting yours by calm and temperate argument, 1 doing the 
same. They have not one common principle. Now what ad- 
vantage have I over you or you over me in position on the field 
or in kind of armory? When you say that your religion is true, 
do ''ii not virtually assert that all others are false? Can there 

he two religions wholly unlike ami both true; The ei 

nienis which I am now making upon your religion are exactly 
such as you are making on mine. In the name of God and of 
reason and of common sense, then, what <-\^ you mean when 

\ mi complain of me and my people because we assert that there 

i> kut one true religion, and that we have it; and of our intol- 
erance, when it is exactly your own? Ami yet you <.\>> this verj 
thing plainlv and unmistakably ! Now, sir, 1 will be kinder to 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 55 

you than } r ou are to yourself; I will save your understanding 
from the ravages of your words. You do not mean to be un- 
derstood as contending that two religions differing in principles 
can both be true, but that the votaries of the true one should be 
perfectly inert and passive amidst a hundred false ones. If a 
true religion be worth nothing, you are right; but if it be of 
value and great value, then you could not have broached a 
more preposterous opinion if you had searched a year for it. It 
is at war with the very nature and duty of man, if any duty be 
upon him. It is at war with the practices of all men from the 
creation to this day, not excepting yourself. Had it been adopt- 
ed and practiced by the races who have gone before us, we 
would be now in African darkness. If adopted now and prac- 
ticed in future, it would put a dead-lock upon the wheels of sci- 
ence, and arrest all advancements in agriculture, commerce, in- 
ternal improvements, government, or morals. Let every man 
who discovers a good thing for soul or body keep it to himself, 
and not go to disturbing his neighbors with it to stir up strife 
and bloodshed among them! There's your principle, kind sir, 
in a nutshell. Do you recommend it to your Democratic 
brethren? Do you say to them: "Your views of the Constitu- 
tion and principles of our government are right, and would be 
a great blessing to the country just at this time if they could 
predominate. Those of the Radicals are wrong, of course, if 
yours be right, but don't interest yourselves in the matter; be 
quiet, enjoy your principles, and let them enjoy theirs. You 
will find your consciousness of political rectitude, as I find mine 
of religious rectitude, a fountain of perennial joy and refresh- 
ing springing up in your hearts, which will amply compensate 
you for any loss by your 'masterly inactivity.' But if they ob- 
trude themselves upon your domain, then let them have it in 
full. Tell them how they forsook the principles of their noble 
leader, Webster, and attached themselves to the skirts of a band 
of wild, self -maddened religious fanatics, caught the flame of their 
madness, and overspread the country with blood and carnage — 
in short, recount all their past and daily sins — and then I reckon 
they'll attend to their own politics and let yours alone." This 
is the way you ought to talk to these brethren ; and if 3011 do 
not, your practice condemns your principles. The truth is, no 
party, sect, or association could ever be formed at all upon your 
principles. Bricks are just as likely to jump together and build 
a house as men are to come together in a common bond of un- 
ion while every man keeps his opinions to himself. But, sir, we 
dare not be passive. And this brings me to perhaps the strong- 
est argument in favor of the divine origin, and of course the 



'56 



JUDGE LONGSTREET. 



truth of the Christian religion in the Christian's whole armory. 
It is that perfectly original feature of it with which it was born, 
and which it has ever retained — viz., that it will make no com- 
promises with any other religion of the world. We have seen 
it in its infancy, we have seen it in its humility, we have seen it 
in its agonies, we have seen it in '■its garments of hlood. we have 
seen it in its coat of fire; but we have not yet seen it in its mi- 
raculous daring, its astounding intrepidity, and its superhuman 
triumphs. Just think of the twelve illiterates, their Master (a 
Jew) just crucified by sentence of a Roman governor, under 
impeachment of the Jewish Sanhedrim, they themselves sub- 
ject to the civil authority of the judge and the religious author- 
ity of the prosecutor; think of these atomic humanities going 
forth, and in a body first attacking their own rulers on whose 
skirts the blood of their victim was hardly dry, charging them 
to their faces with murdering their own Messiah, but promising 
them forgiveness in his name if they would repent and believe 
in him! 

You do not admit that Christ performed any miracles while 
he was upon the earth. I will take it as a great favor if you wilj 
tell me whether he said or did any thing while he was upon the 
earth, and what. I would like to know also what vou think that 
bloody gospel was which he ordered his disciples to go forth and 
preach. You do not believe that he performed miracles ; but yoc 
admit the miraculous when you believe that four of the most art- 
less, candid, impartial, truthful, God-fearing historians that ever 
put pen to paper, without any concert of action or hope of gain, 
all of them contemporaries, and two of them eye-witnesses of 
what they narrate, all deliberately seated themselves anil wrote 
out the history of the same person. This you admit. They all 
concur in ascribing to him a moral character as pure and as spotless 
as that of God himself. This you neither admit nor deny , as VOU 
have only their say so for it. They give you the code of morals 
which he delivered to his disciples to he preached to the world. 

This j'ou have already admitted. This code we have before us, 
and lids is Christ's gospel. It forbids lying under penalties awful 
to those who believe that he has power to enforce them. They 
say that he laid claim to divine power and avouched his claim 
by miracles many and stupendous. This you do not believe. 
When they wrote their histories, thej were all preachers of Christ's 
gospel. If Christ did not perform the miracles ascribed to him, 

tiny knew it of course; hut they have put them on record, for it 

i- bi fore us; the disciples, therefore, musl have forged them all. 
Between thirty and Eortj .>i these pretended miracles are reported 

'lie detail "f persons, their offices, their names, of places 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 157 

and circumstances; and hundreds are brought to notice by a sin- 
gle collective term — such as, "and he healed great multitudes by 
his word; " Christ's feeding thousands upon two occasions with a 
few loaves and fishes, I have put in the former class and counted 
them as they are always counted, as but two miracles. They 
ought to be counted as nine thousand at least, for with every in- 
crement of the elements he performed a new act of creation — a 
thing as difficult of performance as the creation of nine thousand 
worlds. If these are historic facts, and not forgeries, no man who 
believes them can doubt for a moment the truth with which John 
opens his gospel. It settles the signification of the word "Logos" 
about which there has been so much dispute, by a case in point. 
This was the creation of dead matter. So was his creation of the 
coin. His putting it into the mouth of the fish and directing it 
to the precise point to which Peter's hook would fall, and at the 
very instant of its fall, were all distinct miracles which show that 
he controlled the people of the sea as well as the people of earth, 
and exercised power upon both at the same time. When he 
breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Lazarus and the 
widow's son of Nain, he created two men. When he walked on 
the water, he suspended the laws of nature. When he hushed 
the winds and the waves, he showed that his will was law to those 
elements. 

Now I have not been parading before you and characterizing 
these miracles, or pretended miracles, to convince you that Christ 
performed them, but as a lemma upon Avhich I will presently 
build an argument which will rub closely upon a demonstration 
that if he did not perform them his disciples ivcre all miracles, and 
that you are as great a miracle as any of them. 

We have said that if Christ did not perform the miracles at- 
tributed to him his disciples forged them — nobody else could have 
done it. 

The disciples were all ignorant, artless men. They com- 
menced preaching soon after Christ's death in Jerusalem, where 
they were ordered to remain for some time and preach to the Jews 
only. They were all very sad at the departure of their Lord and 
Master; but while awaiting orders the thought struck some one 
of them (at a prayer-meeting most likely) that as they were soon 
going out to preach the gospel of Christ, and to assert that the 
author of it was the Son of God, and equal with God, or rather 
God himself manifest in the flesh, they foresaw that they could 
make but little headway in their ministry unless they could con- 
vince the world that he did many superhuman works while he 
sojourned on earth. So they drew up the imaginary miracles as 
we find them. But there was a brother to be "added to them to 



'S» 



JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 



supply the place of Judas. So as soon as he was chosen they 
vent to him and told all that they had done, and the reason of it, 
and presented him a copy of all the miracles they had agreed to 
preach, lie received it very graciously and commenced com- 
mitting them to memory as hard as he could, for the time for his 
preaching was ;it hand. It soon came on, and {under our suppo- 
sition, fray keep in mind \ these artless hut dauntless champions of 
the Cross went out upon their mission of love and lying. 1 low- 
must their first sermons have run when they undertook to 
strengthen the gospel by an appeal to Christ's miracles.' Some- 
how thus: "I tell you people of Jerusalem that Christ was 'the 
Power of God, and the Wisdom of God.' That he was the Wis- 
dom of God you learn from his gospel; that he was the Power 
of God all Jerusalem can testify from the 'number of miracles' 
which lie wrought in this city; which when these brethren 'saw 
they believe.' But some of you say you didn't see them and 
can't believe. Well, I'll give you one that you can't disbelieve. 
You all know that Lazarus, of our neighboring village, Bethany, 
died. You can't dispute that, for 'many' of you went out to 
sympathize and condole with his bereaved sisters. You wrapped 
him in his grave-clothes and buried him. You continued your 
tender assiduities to the sisters four days, when a message came 
to Martha which she did not stop to communicate to anybody, 
hut hastened away. Soon after another came to Mary who did 
the like, you supposing that she was going to the grave to weep 
followed her. She conducted you to Jesus, you saw her pros- 
trate herself at his feet and heard her exclaim: ' Lord, hadstthou 
been here, our brother had not died!' You mingled your tears 
with hers, and for the fust and only time in his life, save one, 
1 Jesus wept.' You conducted him to the place of the brother's 
interment. Some of you removed the stone from the mouth of 
his grave. You heard the command of Christ to him to come 
forth, you saw him rise in the habiliments of the grave, you di- 
vested him of them and saw him go home with his rejoicing 
sisters. And then what? Many of you believed on him — and 
not all! () no. Some of you diil as you always do. you posted 
off lo the devil's physicians for Christ's wounds, the Pharisees, 
and told them what Jesus had done. So you did when Christ 
gave Sight to a man horn blind, The actors in these scenes are 

vet alive; for it is not two years since they occurred. Lazarus 

comes to tow n cvciy da\ or two, and you all stare at him, curious 
to learn whether a man raised from the dead is as he w as he fore 

he died." 

All this, and no one man saying to am. 'her: •• Why, did vou 
ever hear of such a pack of barefaced lies since \ mi were born : " 






A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 59 

No one even saying to another: " Did you ever hear of any of 
these things? " But this preaching in Jerusalem was modest and 
diffident compared with what it must have been when a disciple 
went to Capernaum to deliver himself. He reminded the inhab- 
itants of course of what Christ had recently said about their city, 
spoke of his divine power, and called upon nine thousand men, 
besides women and children, in and about Capernaum to testify 
to it from what they had seen and handled and tasted at the feasts 
of the loaves and fishes. 

Well, thus they went on preaching for twenty or more years, 
until, having perfectly amalgamated their lies with Christ's 
truths, one of his disciples writes out a history of his Master. 
Soon after a follower, but not a disciple, writes out another; then 
another of like kind does the like. And lastly, another disciple 
does the same. These historians all agree in giving the same 
character to Christ, but each one adds one or more miracles to 
the list given by his predecessor. These books are collected to- 
gether, received by thousands and tens of thousands as the ver- 
itable word of God, are preserved as men preserve diamonds, 
and passed down from hand to hand, and pen to pen, to this day ; 
and you are now complaining that these forging, lying rascals 
got up a religion eighteen hundred years ago that won't let you 
alone. 

Now, sir, if the miracles recorded in the gospel were never 
wrought by Christ or anybody else, if they were all forgeries of 
the disciples and palmed off upon the credulity of mankind, in 
the way we have seen they must have been, then every disciple 
was himself as far out of the order of nature as a hot icicle would 
be, and therefore an indisputable miracle. God never made the 
man who could exactly fill the measure of a disciple according 
to your grading. But you believe he made twelve such. You do 
not believe that Christ possessed superhuman powers, but you be- 
lieve that his servants did. You do not admit that he ever per- 
formed one miracle, but you admit that without check or reproof 
he allowed his disciples to assert everywhere that he wrought 
a hundred; for, grant that he sent them out to preach after he 
rose from the dead, and you must suppose that he lived long 
enough to see whether they were getting along to his liking. 

Thus believing and disbelieving, you are a compound of 
credulity and incredulity which throws you quite out of the or- 
der of nature and makes you a miracle. 

A few words upon miracles, and " cause and effect" before we 
close. 

Every one knows perfectly well what a miracle is and what is 
meant by « cause and effect" until he sees them in the hands of 



160 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

the theologian, the philosopher, and the metaphysician ;and then 
he discovers that he never knew any thing, or but very little, 
about them. What I have to say of them will commend itself 
to all readers for brevity, simplicity, clearness, and easiness of 
apprehension at least. 

A miracle presupposes the existence of mind and its capability 
of acting on mind and matter. The power of the human mind 
extends no farther than to operate cluinges in matter and mind. 
It can create nothing, it can annihilate nothing. When it acts 
upon and produces a change in matter, the change is evident to 
the senses; and seeing it, we can no more doubt of its reality 
than we can of our own existence. This conviction arises from an 
inborn property of our moral constitution. Reason has nothing 
to do with it. It springs up and takes its appointed seat before 
tardy-footed reason has time to take her first step. It takes its 
seat not for an instant, a month, or a year, but for eternity if the 
perceiving mind endures so long itself unchanged. While that 
mind remains exactly as it was when it perceived the change, 
we can no more doubt it as a reality than we could at first. If 
time, for se, could affect it, we would begin to doubt the : 
after we realized. But mind cannot act directly upon either mind 
or matter. It performs all its operations through the body. 
The observer's eye not only sees the change after it is made, but 
it sees the body in the act of making it ; first notices the man and 
puts him in its treasury of ideas; then notices the thing and dis- 
poses of it in the same way; then he marks each and every new 
development and deals with them in like manner, so that when 
the change is effected all that he could know about it is so spe- 
cifically treasured up and so methodically arranged in his mind 
that he could immediately go to work and produce the same 
change in exactly the same way. In the meantime, while the 
mind of the observer was gathering its knowledge in this way, 
the mind of the operator had conceived the change as clearly 
before as after it was perfected, and would have produced it by 
a word if he could; but it had to wait the tardy movement of its 
agent, and thereby it was compelled to communicate its knowl- 
edge to the observer which otherwise it never would have done. 

Now the latter knows nothing of what started the man to make 
the change, but he knows that he himself is a man, that Ins mind 

has grasped the whole process, and that he can repeat it if he 
will. Suppose he resolves to repeat it, how does lie go to work? 
His mind sets his body to work, and It proceeds step by step after 

the manner of his exemplar. 1 le now know s that his exemplar's 
bod} w as set to work just as his w as h\ a mind that dwelt in it 
and all the powers of earth could not convince him to the con- 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. l6l 

trary How has he reached this immovable conviction? By 
reasoning from effect to cause, as all the miners in mind would 
have us believe? Not a whit of it! He never thought of cause 
and effect, he never reasoned at all upon what he had seen. He 
had made all that matter his own, and it was in the use of it that 
he learned by instinct that his teacher had a mind. Well, are 
there no such things as cause and effect} No, cause and effect are 
words, not things. But there are such things as these words were 
properly enough applied to at first, and then most abominably 
abused. Events are often so linked together that we know the 
one could not possibly exist without the other. To the first in 
order of time we give the name of cause, and to the last the name 
of effect. Well, there is no objection to this — it is desirable that 
we should have them for the facilities which they afford us in 
conversing about these connections. But with some they have 
got to be things, and with others nothings. Locke says: '■'■Cause 
is a substance exerting its power into act to make one thing begin 
to be." {Splendid!) 

Hume tells us that " cause and effect" mean no more than in- 
variable antecedents and consequents; that when one event or 
or thing invariably precedes another, we call the first a cause and 
the last an effect. Bottles of ink have been shed in opposition to 
this view and in defense of it. 

A word, it would seem, should have settled it as soon as it was 
raised. Day invariably precedes night; is day the cause of 
night? Certainly, Mr. Hume being in the chair. But night in- 
variably precedes day; is night the cause of day? Most assur- 
edly! How can it be otherwise? But what was all the dispute 
about? About two words which one party understood to mean 
something and the other to mean nothing (and which the um- 
pire between them understands to mean something like some- 
thing, and something like nothing, but not exactly either). 

If possible, let us talk of the things without the names. The 
world is made up of matter and mind. We know that matter 
cannot change its form or its place of itself; and we know the 
only agencies by which these changes can be produced — animal 
power, time, and the turbulent and silent elements of nature,work- 
ing upon each other. The changes wrought by all other agencies 
put together are to those wrought by man as one to a billion ; and 
numerous as they are, they are distinguishable at a glance from 
those produced by the other agencies — they all bear the impress 
of design upon them. The works of the beaver would constitute 
a solitary exception, if he did not always put his ingenious fabric 
in the water and always build it in the same way. Very many 
of the changes wrought by man we not only know to be his by 

11 



162 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

sight, but avc know why, how, and for what they were made. 
I see the perfect form of a man in marble. Do lgo through a 
process of reasoning from' effect to cause to convince me that it 
is the work of man? No; I am convinced as soon as mv eve 
lights upon it. Instinct jumps me to the maker; and here l" may 
and if I am a wise man will begin to reason thus: That lifeless 
form of a man was wrought out by an intelligent being; but 
who wrought out the original of it, with all his intelligence, per- 
fection of organs, activity of body and mind? How do I reason 
now? From the sculptor to his Maker? No; but from myself 
to my Maker. I find a thousand millions on earth like me; all 
put up with inimitable skill and wonderful capabilities, not one 
of whom ever made a man. But His wisdom, skill, and design 
show themselves in man's organization. These are but attri- 
butes; I .possess them in a small degree myself: I cannot con- 
ceive of attributes without something to which they belong. I 
cannot conceive of attributes like these without some person like 
myself to whom they belong. And here my unassisted 
leads me right into the heart of that charming religion which 
Varus was so kind as to give to your countiyir.cn before the 
coming of Christ and Boniface was so cruel as to take away from 
them afterward. But do Boniface justice. Your countrymen, 
under the head of Arminius, threw off the government of Va- 
rus entirely, and restored to them their own primitive religion. 
Whereupon Varus, according to the Roman religion, killed him- 
self; and Arminius, according to the primitive religion, im- 
proved his victory by allowing your countrymen to cut off the 
hands of the lawyers, whose subtleties were most odious to them, 
and to put out the eyes of other-. 

The Bible teaches me that God is not flesh and blood as I am, 
but pure mind, or spirit. Enough! 1 cam ol under tand how 
my mind thinks and wills and designs, but knowing that i 
I readily admit that the revelation is true, and perceive 
that the difference between me and my Creator is this: My mind 
is a creation. How His came to be I know not. (" Self-Cl 
are two more silly words). When it began to be is a silly tl 
Mv mind can act upon nothing directly but the body th 
tains it; God's mind acts upon every thing directly. My mind 
can create nothing, it cm destroy nothing; his can en 
destroy everything. 1 live by his permission, I die at hi 
mand. When 1 form new combinations of matter into some- 
thing useful, I am said to create it and When 1 em- 
ploy myself in useless ci i nstituted the 
minds of all men that they judge me a fool. 11 
parallel and the antithesi s. 



A TOUCH OF POLEMICS. 1 63 

If God made man for any purpose, and he would have man 
to know it, I know of no shorter or simpler way than that by 
which he has taught us to make known our purposes to each 
other. If he requires any duties of us, 1 think he should tell us 
what they are, and as he is not to be seen of men and long con- 
versations with us in his spiritual character would confuse us 
very much, I think the better way would be to make known his 
wishes through some man, and as that man would not certainly 
be known to speak God's words without indubitable proof of his 
authority, I think it would be a good plan to endow him with 
the power of working miracles, and a goodly number of them, 
in proof of it. But miracles would be of no use to any but those 
who witness them if man were not by nature formed to trust the 
word of his fellow-man as implicitly as his own senses. And so 
God made him as we find him fresh from the hands of his Crea- 
tor, for little children never doubt what they are told. Distrust 
came from lying- and deception of the senses; lying, from known 
motives. Remove the causes of distrust, and my nature compels 
me to believe what I am told. When, therefore, Hume says he 
would sooner believe that the evangelist lied than that the 
order of nature was changed, he says : " I will change the order of 
(my) nature sooner than believe the order of nature was 
changed. A. B. Longstreet. 



JUDGE LONGSTREET'S WRITINGS. 



Judge Longstreet wrote "Letters from Geor- 
gia to Massachusetts," " Letters to Clergymen 
of the Northern Methodist Church," "A Review 
of the Decision of the Supreme Court in the Case 
of McCulloch vs. the State of Maryland," " Geor- 
gia Scenes," "Master William Mitten; or The 
Youth of Brilliant Talents Who Was Ruined by Bad 
Luck," besides pamphlets, magazine and news- 
paper articles on current topics. 

The most widely known and popular of all his 
writings was the " Georgia Scenes. This book has 
been characterized elsewhere in this volume. It 
will be interesting to the reader to quote Judge 
Longstreet's own word's concerning it: " The de- 
sign of the ' Georgia Scenes ' has been wholly mis- 
apprehended by the public. It has been invaria- 
bly received as a mere collection of fancy sketches, 
with no higher object than the entertainment of the 
reader, whereas the aim of the author was to sup- 
ply a chasm in history which has always been over- 
looked — the manners, customs, amusements, wit, 
dialect, as they appear in all grades of society to 
an ear and eye witness of them. But who ever 
tells us of the comments of the wits ami the ways 
of the common walks of life, in their own dialect, 
upon the victors and the vanquished in the public 

games? Could we hear them, we would find a rich 
(164) 



JUDGE LONGSTREET'S WRITINGS. , 165 

fund of amusement in their remarks upon the 
dresses of their characters, the horses, their mode 
of driving, and their blunders ; upon the pugilistic 
combatants, their appearance, their muscle, their 
remarks, and gruntings and groanings as the favor- 
ite champion seemed to gain or lose the chance for 
victory; their own private games, quarrels, and 
fights, and the manner in which they are conduct- 
ed. In short, what history do we find that covers 
completely all grades and ranks of society at any 
one period of time ? I have chosen the first fifty 
years of our republic in the course of which short 
space of time the society of the Southern States 
underwent almost an entire revolution, and at this 
date hardly a trace of the society of the first thirty 
years of the republic is to be found. To be sure, 
in writing the ' Georgia Scenes ' I have not con- 
fined myself to strictly veracious historic detail; 
but there is scarcely one word from the beginning 
to the end of the book that is not strictly Georgian. 
The scenes which I describe — as, for instance, 
' The Gander Pulling ' — actually occurred at the 
very place where I locate it. The names of the 
persons who figure in it are such as were well- 
known in Richmond County at that time, and the 
language which I put in the mouths of my actors 
was just such as was common at such exhibitions. 
The horses that were engaged differed in action 
and character as horses generally do; but to give 
the whole an interest which it would not otherwise^ 
have, I make one of the horses (of a disposition 
not very uncommon among horses) break from the' 
ring and make for Augusta, pass tobacco rollers,' 



1 66 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

which were common at that time, receive their 
greetings as the rider of such a horse would be 
certain to secure from such characters — and so on 
to the close of his course. This last part is fanciful, 
and thrown in to give interest to a scene that would 
be very insipid in simple historical detail to persons 
unacquainted with that amusement. Again, take 
'The Wax Works.' The exhibition actually 
came off in Waynesboro, Burke County, Ga. Ev- 
ery character introduced actually existed, given 
under changed names to be sure, but performing 
precisely the part ascribed to him. Once more, 
take ' The Fight.' This is a description of a com- 
bat which was not uncommon in almost every 
county in Georgia, at almost every one of which 
there was a Ransy Sniffle, a little more ludicrous 
in form and figure, and made rather more con- 
spicuous in this fight than the real Ransys were. 
In person, however, he answered very well to 
many of the poorer class whom all Georgians have 
seen in the sterile pine woods of that State. These 
may serve as examples of how far the sketches 
were actually true and how far fanciful." 

The genesis of another of his books Judge 
Longstreet also tells us in his own words: " ' Mas- 
ter Mitten' was brought out in this wise: While I 
was President of Centenary College, in Louisiana, 
two young men established a press in the village, 
and they earnestly requested me to write for it. 
There were several indulgent widowed mothers in 
Jackson who had sons at the grammar-school or 
at college, over whom they exercised no control; 
and who, like all youths permitted to do as they 



JUDGE LONGSTREET'S WRITINGS. l6>J 

pleased, gave more of their time to mischief than 
to study. I therefore commenced the work with a 
design of teaching mothers the danger of allowing 
their affections for their children to interfere with 
their duty in exercising that parental discipline 
which is indispensable to the training of youth in 
industry, study, and moral conduct; and to set 
before youths of talents the evils of indolence and 
the rewards of industry and study in a manner 
which I thought most likely to stimulate them to a 
laudable ambition for literary distinction. I laid 
the scene in Georgia, that it might not be under- 
stood as a rebuke to the kind mothers of Jackson. 
I had only progressed as far as the fifth' or sixth 
chapter when I left Jackson, and supposed that 
there was the last of ' Master Mitten.' When the 
Field and Fireside was established in Augusta, I 
was requested to become one of its contributors, 
and I resumed and finished the story of ' Master 
Mitten' for that periodical, very much doubting 
whether the intelligent editors would admit it into 
their columns. They did so, however, and by 
those who saw the aim of it it was well received; 
but by a large majority of readers, who expected 
at the opening of it a rehash of the ' Georgia 
Scenes,' it was considered a dead failure." 

Many of Judge Longstreet's graver essays were 
upon subjects which have now entirely lost their 
interest, and which neither he nor his friends took 
any pains to preserve. His newspaper articles 
were mostly on transient topics, and, though 
bright and strong and read with avidity when they 
first appeared, have sunk into the sea of literary 



1 68 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

forgetfulness. The fragments of his writing on 
religious questions that remain show a fondness 
and a genius for exegetics, with an independence 
and originality of thought that give assurance that 
he could have done more work on that line that 
would have deserved to survive him. 

It is not certain, however, that, had Judge Long- 
street carried out his intention to write a series of 
" Georgia Scenes" from a strictly religious point 
of view, he would have succeeded. His special 
vein was humor. But true humor and true pathos 
are seldom disjoined, and there are in this memoir 
pathetic touches that justify the presumption that 
he might have written a book of sketches on the 
line indicated that would have melted its readers to 
tears as the first series moved them to laughter. 
The world will hold on to the mirth-moving "Geor- 
gia Scenes" with a grateful and kindly remem- 
brance of the author, and leave unsettled the ques- 
tion as to what he might have done in another and 
different field of literary achievement. What is 
left of his writings, like what is accessible of his 
life, is fragmentary, and may prove more appetiz- 
ing than* satisfying to the kindly constituency for 
whom these pages have been prepared. 



TRAITS. 



Curiously blended and balanced in Judge Long-, 
street were two traits that to many persons 
seem antagonistic: intense earnestness and an al- 
most perennial humorousness. He was quickly- 
aroused in behalf of any principle or cause that he 
espoused. Not stopping to calculate personal con- 
sequences, he flung himself with all his force into 
the conflict. He was an enthusiast in the good 
sense of the word. As a thinker and teacher, as 
a Christian and patriot, he took sides on all cur- 
rent questions of ethics and public policy. He 
was in vital touch with his times, and his soul was 
stirred by every breeze of popular excitement. 
Whether contending for a pet theory of education, 
a disputed political dogma, the honor of his coun- 
try, or the rights of his section, he gave himself 
wholly to the side he took. Friends and foes alike 
knew where to find him. As an ally he was trust- 
ed and loved; as an antagonist he was respected. 
His good nature brought him out of the fierce fires 
of controversy with a temper still sunny and sweet. 
The humor that ripples over his printed page broke 
forth irresistibly in his conversation. " He was 
inimitable as a story-teller," says Dr. R. H. Rivers, 
his colleague at Centenary College; " no one could 
resist the contagion of his humor. He was usually 
the center of a listening, laughing, admiring crowds 

(169) 



170 JUDGE LOX (.STREET. 

His tone, gesture, and play of features gave his 
narratives a peculiar zest and charm." 

He was a good singer, and played delightfully 
on the flute. It has already been stated that, in 
accordance with a custom prevalent among the 
early Methodist preachers, he sometimes sung pul- 
pit solos to tunes of his own making. These sim- 
ple sacred melodies were popular for a time, but 
did not displace the great masters of holy song. 
The airs were mostly wedded to verses that were 
notable rather for religious fervor than for genuine 
poetic merit, but they caught the ear and touched 
the hearts of the people. The sketch in the " Geor- 
gia Scenes" entitled ''The Song," doubtless ex- 
presses his opinion and his taste concerning music. 
He was the owner of a famous glass flute, which 
was the wonder and admiration of his rustic neigh- 
bors. This instrument enlivened many a pleasant 
circle, and was the solace of many a quiet hour. 

That no poetical effusion of Judge Longstreet 
has come to the notice of his biographer is some- 
what surprising, lie had a glowing imagination, 
a lively fancy, intensity of feeling, the rythmic in- 
stinct in the use of words, and was well acquainted 
-with the laws of versification. But no stanza of 
his composition is extant. The explanation may 
be found in the fact that he hail the good sense to 
accepl the axiom that it' poetry is not very good it 
is bad; or in the tact that, havingWOOed the muses 

;it an early period, in maturer years he became 
ashamed of his verses ami suppressed them, thus 
saving his friends from the hypocrisy of forced 
praise on the one hand or from the pain oi bestow- 



TRAITS. iyi 

ing honest criticism on the other. Would that all 
versifiers were as sensible and merciful ! 

The moral courage that was so conspicuous a 
trait in Judge Longstreet's character was associat- 
ed with a sensitiveness that caused him to be deep- 
ly pained by suspicion on the part of friends or 
misconception by the general public. He could 
withstand popular opinion not because he was in- 
different to it, but because his love of truth and 
sense of duty overbore all selfish and minor con- 
siderations. When at times his convictions com- 
pelled him to antagonize the views and aspirations 
of cherished personal friends, it gave him the keen- 
est pain. At the time when he was a teacher in 
Emory College expounding those doctrines of po- 
litical economy that classed him as a zealous and 
unflinching State rights Democrat, perhaps nine- 
tenths of the Methodist preachers with whom he 
was closely affiliated in ecclesiastical and personal 
relations were Whigs, most of them as ardent on 
their side as he was on his ; while there was among 
them a class so averse to all secular entanglements, 
and so completely absorbed in their work as min- 
isters of the gospel, that they had no politics. (The 
danger to the ministry does not lie in the direction 
taken by the class last named.) Judge Longstreet 
warmly repelled the charge that he was a political 
partisan, and no one will impeach his sincerity. As 
a lecturer on political enconomy he defended what 
seemed to him the true principles of the Federal 
Constitution. If his teaching led his pupils to be- 
come State rights Democrats, doubtless he thought 
that was their good fortune, not his fault. 



iy2 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Judge Longstreet's love for children was one of 
his lovable traits. It is only a truly benignant spir- 
it that can win and hold the love of the little ones 
as he did. They loved to be near him. He could 
so fully enter into their childish feelings and fan- 
cies and sports that both he and they seemingly 
forgot for the time that he was not one of them. 
An eye-witness gives a charming picture of him 
that illustrates this feature of his character. 

During the war he spent some time with his kin- 
dred in or near the quiet little village of Enon, in 
Eastern Alabama. The war had broken up the 
village school; and seeing that the little boys and 
girls were left without instruction, he set up for 
them an open-air academy of unique pattern. 
Seated under the wide-spreading branches of a 
shade-tree, the white-haired sage called the chil- 
dren around him "and taught them orthographv, 
reading, writing, and arithmetic, the moist, clean 
sand serving as copy-book and blackboard. He 
had some pet arithmetical theories and methods, 
which he thus put into practice, much to his own 
satisfaction and to the delight of his little pupils. 
That was a happy little school: the gentleness of 
the venerable teacher overcame the timidity of the 
shy little lasses and the awkwardness of the bash- 
ful country lads, while his quaint humor and funny 
little stories held them a delighted band. The lit- 
tle negro children shared in the privileges of this 
peculiar school, their black faces wreathed in 
smiles and their white teeth visible. Holding as 

he diil the strongest pro-slavery views, the negro 

race had no truer friend than Judge Longstreet: a 



TRAITS. 173 

paradox hard to be reconciled by those who looked 
at the question from a distance, but readily under- 
stood by those who inherited the institution of 
slavery and were brought up in the midst of its 
peculiar conditions. The ex-President of the Uni- 
versity of South Carolina teaching little negro chil- 
dren the rudiments of learning almost within hear- 
ing of the bugles of the Yankee cavalry then 
raiding the vicinity is a picture that tells its own 
story. 

Judge Longstreet was a delightful letter writer 
— wise, witty, and pathetic by turns. The most of 
his correspondence perished by the fire of which 
mention has already been made. Among the let- 
ters that survived that catastrophe is one written to 
Gov. McDuffie, his early friend and school-mate, 
dated at Oxford, Ga., June 22, 1846, from which 
a few of the opening sentences are here quoted to 
indicate to the reader what was his epistolary style, 
while they reveal something of the heart of the 
writer. '■'■Dear McDuffie: From Washington to 
New York, and during my tarry there, I had a 
dreadful time of it — sick all the time, and weak as 
an infant most of the time. In Philadelphia I did 
gather strength enough to visit your daughter. 
She's a sweet girl, far handsomer than I expected 
to find her; for in point of beauty she had nothing 
to hope for, at least on the paternal side, and yet 
she is decidedly good-looking. Her voice is en- 
rapturing, and, according to the best judgment 
that I could form upon a half-hour's acquaintance, 
she has an amiable disposition. Well, this is all 
that a father could ask in a daughter, and more 



174 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

than a father has a right to expect. May God 
preserve her to you, and you to her, for many, 
many years ! The sight of her tore open an old 
wound, but it soon healed again. You remember 
that we used to talk of a match between her and 
my dear boy Torrence." In the same letter there 
is another paragraph which subsequent events in- 
vest with a special interest: " My brother William 
has a son (James) of the brightest promise, whom 
he wishes to get in at West Point. Now if vou can 
give him any aid in the accomplishment of his 
wishes, I pray you do it, and please enlist with you 
as many of your colleagues as you can. Address 
Mr. Calhoun and Isaac Holmes specially in my 
name upon the subject." This nephew, James 
Longstreet, whom the reader has already recog- 
nized as the renowned Confederate general, spoke 
of Judge Longstreet in 1S89 as being to him " more 
than a father/' 

Judge Longstreet' s attachments were character- 
ized by adhesiveness as well as ardor. The friend- 
ships that brightened his youth and early manhood 
blessed his old age. The Dutch element in his com- 
position made him tenacious and constant, while 
his Norman blood imparted the warmth ami gen- 
erous enthusiasm that idealized and transfigured 
the objects of his affection and admiration. It is 
a bad sign when a man outlives his friendships: it 
is usually the proof of a nature shallow or sinister. 

During the session of the Southern Baptist Con- 
vention at Columbus, Ga., in 1850. a dinner was 
given by Mrs. Elizabeth Shorter to the patriarchs 
of Greensboro, which elicited from Judge Long- 



TRAITS. 175 

street an effusion so characteristic that it is insert- 
ed in this chapter treating specially of his traits. 
The following account of the dinner was published 
in the Columbus Corner Stone: 

"About the 25th of last month (April), at the 
close of the Baptist Convention in Columbus, the 
amiable and excellent Mrs. Elizabeth Shorter gave 
a dinner, abundant and in excellent style, to a few 
of her old friends and the friends of her departed 
father. There were six gentlemen present and, I 
think, four ladies. The Rev. George Stewart 
asked a blessing, standing. Four of the guests, 
whose ages together amounted to three hundred 
and fourteen years, were the Rev. 'Diel Sherwood, 
sixty-seven; Charles D. Stewart, seventy-seven; 
Vincent Sanford, eighty-two; and John Bethune, 
eighty-eight. These, with Rev. George Stewart, 
the son of Mr. Charles D. Stewart, and Daniel 
Sanford, the son of Vincent Sanford, constituted 
the male part of the guests. We enjoyed the din- 
ner with great pleasure and harmony. When 
about to separate, the oldest of the company sung 
the Indian farewell hymn: 

" When shall we all meet again, 
When shall we all meet again? 
Oft shall glowing hope expire, 
Oft shall wearied love retire, 
Oft shall death and sorrow reign, 
Ere we all shall meet again. 

"Though in distant lands we sigh, 
Parched beneath a hostile sky; 
Though the deep between us rolls, 
Friendship shall unite our souls, 
And in fancy's wide domain 
Oft shall we all meet again. 



176 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" When our furrowed locks are gray, 
Thinned by many a toil-spent day; 
When around the youthful pine 
Moss shall creep and ivy twine, 
Long may the loved bower remain, 
Ere we all shall meet again. 

" When the dreams of life are fled, 
When its wasted lamps arc dead; 
When in cold oblivion's shade 
Beauty, fame, and wealth are laid 
Where immortal spirits reign, 

There may we all meet again!* 

" In that short time one of that little company is 
gone: Vincent Sanford is no more. Peace to his 
memory." 

This account of the affair, meeting the eye of 
Judge Longstreet, stirred memories of "Auld Lang 
Syne," and he poured forth his feelings in the fol- 
lowing letter, which was published in the Southern 
Field and Fireside, July 2, 1859. In offering it 
for publication Judge Longstreet modestly ox- 
pressed the fear that " such a piece can be of little 
interest to any but the old men to whom it is ad- 
dressed." In reproducing it here no risk of cen- 
sure from Georgia readers is incurred: 

Mrs. Siiorter's Dinner. 

To Gen. James N. Bethune: O that dinner, thai dinner, 
James! The dinner given to the patriarchs of Greensborol 1 
would rather have been at it than at a festival of as many em- 
perors, all doing me reverence. The tears roll down my checks 
while 1 write about it; why, 1 hardly know myself, partly a 
heart-warm tribute to dear, good old brother Vincent Sanford's 
memory he w as ripe for heaven three and forty years ago, and, 

♦This song is said to have been composed by three 
Indians who graduated at some college at the North, and com- 
posed it when they were ahout to part. It was afterward s«-t to 
sacred music. 



TRAITS. 177 

if possible, improved in holiness to the day of his death — partly 
from hallowed associations -which cluster around every name 
that graced and consecrated my dear Elizabeth's table; partly, 
perchance, the sign of an old man's weakness. Well, let it flow ; 
there is friendship in it, at least, as pure as ever bosom cham- 
bered. 

The hostess herself! She was but a child when I first formed 
her acquaintance — a sweet child. I saw her rise to early wom- 
anhood, and then we parted. I can only see her now as I saw 
her then; but there is a moral in her hospitality that tells me 
she is even better now than she was then. Her most excellent 
father did me a kindness when most needed and least expected, 
which I could never repay. To my best of friends he was also 
one of the best of friends. Her sainted aunt! O how I loved 
her! Who that knew her did not? Lovely, beautiful specimen 
of the Christian character! Meek, gentle, lamb-like, charitable. 
Her son "asked the blessing." Worthy son of the worthy 
mother! — like her in feature, like her in morals. God bless him! 
and God bless all his mother's children! 

Rev. Adiel Sherzvood — 67/ My fellow-laborer, and most effi- 
cient laborer in the great temperance reform to which, in all 
likelihood, Georgia owes in no small measure her rank in the 
sisterhood of States. Sweet converse have we often held to- 
gether, and sweeter prayers. Chance made me his sister's first 
Georgia acquaintance, and good fortune made me her escort to 
her brother's arms, far, far away from their paternal homestead, 
in a land of strangers. My residence was the place of meeting; 
my residence but not my property ; yes, it was mine, for what 
was Mr. Torrence's was mine as freely as my own. The best of 
men, among the very best! Here my tears gush, and my eyes 
scarcely see the pen which traces these lines. You, friend Adiel, 
officiated in the pulpit with warm John Howard when for the 
first time, with my bosom friend, I bowed a penitent at the altar. 
Your sister stood by me and prayed with me through all the 
struggles of the new birth. O what a revival did we lead off! 
O what happy weeks followed! Your sister is gone, Adiel; my 
household friend is gone. They had a happier meeting in. the 
house not made -with hands than the brother and sister had in his 
hospitable mansion. We still beat about on life's troubled ocean, 
driven wide apart for many years past — so wide, indeed, that all 
hope of ever seeing you again long since forsook my bosom. 
But Providence has returned you to my native State. Welcome, 
thrice welcome, back to it, dear friend! It owes you a debt I 
know. May I live to acknowledge it for her to you in person! 

Charles D. Stetvart — 77 ! Thy name comes as a light through 
12 



178 



JUDGE LONGS! REET. 



the gloom that overshadows me. It is but a flash, however. 
We were closely bound in friendship's bonds ere sweet religion 
strengthened them into love. We sported, laughed, and jested 
together. There is not a brook around the dear village who6e 
margin we have not trod together. We set out for the 
kingdom of heaven together. I sickened ere we set our 
faces heavenward. Your means, your medicines, your comforts 
tor the sick, were ample. They were all at my service unasked 
for, and day by day and night by night administered to me by 
your own hands. But still I sunk until I reached the very brink 
of the grave. At length the anxious looks of friends around my 
bed and sobs from an adjoining room reminded me that my case- 
was hopeless. I felt my pulse, or rather felt for it, for it tiut- 
tered imperceptible to the touch. My mind was clear, and, 
strange to tell, was undisturbed by fears. "You will find," said 
I, "in such a drawer my will, complete all to signing; hand it to 
me." It was brought to me. One of twoofficesyou performed 
for me, I do not remember which; you held me up while I 
traced my name and then laid me gently down to die, or you 
held the will for my name and then attested it as a witness. 
The day passed and I still breathed; another and hope revived; 
another and I grew better; a week, and I was out of danger. 
Ten thousand praises to Almighty God that he did not make 
that sickness my last! No living being out of my family show ed 
more delight at seeing me on my feet again than did you, my 
dear, dear old friend. For aye since, my house has been thine 
and thine has been mine. 

John Bethune — SS! God bless him! God did bless him with 
his greatest earthly blessing fifty years ago, and that was but an 
earnest of still greater blessings now within a few davs of him. 
John Bethune and Vincent Sanford! Forty-three years ago, and 

for many succeeding years, their names, like partnership names, 
were pronounced together whenever piety w as the theme. The 
one a Methodist, the other a Baptist, but undistinguished by their 
walk and conversation. One slight difference 1 used to observe 
between them: when Jesse Mercer preached. Brother Vincent 

brightened a little the mosl : and when Lovick l'ierce preached. 

Brother John brightened a little the most. But no matter who 
preached, both were certain to hear the sermon. At all relig- 
ious services they were found together. In all benevolent of- 
fices they were as one. Almost alone as reprcsentativ es of their 

respective Churches, they stood in the village for years; but 
brightly beamed their light in the darkness which surrounded 
them, and God let them live to see the day when almost every 
habitation In the village was a house of prayer. 



TRAITS. 1 7 9 

And have you, Brother John, up to this time, been adding to 
the large store of faith, hope, and charity which you had forty- 
three years ago? Why, you will be made ruler over ten cities to 
my one. You named a son after me, and sympathized 'deeply 
with me when I lost my first-born; but not more than I did 
you when you lost your Julia. Five more of mine have followed 
my first-born, and as many of yours (?) have followed your 
Julia — my namesake among the rest. And yet we live. Are 
we fortunate or unfortunate? "What penalties are attached 
to long life! If I live to see the next autumnal equinox, I shall 
have completed my sixty-ninth year. I have been deemed, and 
actually have been, one of the happiest of men ; and yet what 
sorrows have I seen! Of my father's friends, whom I well re- 
member in all the gayeties of life, not one survives. Of the com- 
panions of my early boyhood, but six survive. Of my first 
brethren of the bar, including three circuits and the city of Sa- 
vannah, but seven are left. In the village where I first took you 
by the hand, but one head of a family remains, and he had be- 
come such only the year before we met. Of all the adults of the 
village, I cannot count ten who yet live. Gone, gone, dear ones 
of every age — gone down to the chamber of silence! To wit- 
ness these things, interspersed with a thousand lesser ills, is the 
lot of old age in its best estate. 

Beyond the flight of time, 

Beyond the vale of death, 
There surely is a blessed clime 

Where life is not a breath, 
Nor life's affections transient fire, 
Whose sparks fly upward to expire. 

And yet old age is not without its joys; and if preceded by a 
well-ordered morning and meridian, the evening of life is the 
sweetest and happiest of the term. The troubles incident to 
youthful indiscretions we know no more, brother. Those who 
in manhood's prime harassed, perplexed, and annoyed us, now 
do us reverence. If death has hewed down most of our former 
friends, he has intensified our love for the remnant that is left, 
and reduplicated the happiness of our intercourse with them. 
We have no anxieties about time's future, for time has left us no 
future to provide for. The bustling world has pushed us away 
to the narrow belt which separates it from the realm of death; 
but it is a quiet, peaceful spot. Here we find refuge in hearts 
which cannot displace us — hearts of our own begetting, over 
which we still exercise a kind of lordship. These, with the lit- 
tle ones they place around us, are ceaseless fountains of joy — the 
purest, the holiest that earth can give. Here we calmly wait the 



I So JUDGE LUNG STREET. 

summons to joys unspeakable and full of glory. Upon the whole, 
\vl- arc fortunate, brother. I could not be with you at our dear 
Elizabeth's table, but 1 hope soon to be with you and her and all 
her gfiests at the marriage supper oj tlie Lamb, where our ban- 
quet song will no longer be, " When shall we meet again?" but 
"Alleluia! Let us be glad and rejoice, for the marriage supper 
of the Lamb is come. Worthy is the Lamb to receive honor 
and glory and blessing, for he hath redeemed us to God by his 
blood, and made us kings and priests unto God." L. — ~6S. 

He was very sensitive and high-spirited. This 
trait was illustrated at the International Statistical 
Congress in London in i860, to which he had been 
appointed as a delegate by President Buchanan. 
Lord Brougham, in opening the Congress, made 
a remark which Judge Longstreet regarded as an 
insult to the United States, whereupon he (Long- 
street) promptly retired from the body in a state 
of high resentment. In a letter to the London 
Morning Chronicle he vindicated his course in so 
doing, and recites some facts concerning the negro 
question in a way that seemed to Englishmen more 
caustic than conciliatory. The history of his short 
stay at Centenary College, which needs now no 
further allusion, illustrates the same trait of char- 
acter. 

He was a modest man, but not prudish. Among 
the honors conferred on him by literary institu- 
tions, he prized none more highly than the degree 
of LL.D. bestowed by Yal \ College in 1841 at the 
suggestion of John C. Calhoun. His election as 
an honorary member of the Smithsonian Institute 
during the administration of President Pierce was 
another honor highly appreciated by him. 

His mimetic powers were extraordinary; and 
when in the freedom of a congenial circle he gave 



TRAITS. l8l 

free play to his genius on this line, his narrations 
were irresistibly laughable. The peculiar flavor 
of these sketches could not be transferred to the 
printed page^but the charm of them lingered de- 
lightfully in the memory of all who were fortunate 
enough to hear them. 



ADDED TOUCHES. 



The picture of Judge Longstreet and his wife, 
their home life, and their reciprocal influence 
on each other will be more complete by presenting 
to the reader the following delineation kindly fur- 
nished by the Rev. Dr. J. T. Wightman, now pas- 
tor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
Washington, D. C. : 

" It was my privilege to be associated with Judge 
Longstreet and Mrs. Longstreet as their pastor for 
two years, in 1859-60, while that distinguished 
gentleman was the President of the South Caro- 
lina College, at Columbia, in that State. The 
campus grounds were spacious, occupying eight 
acres, with rows of oaks walled in with dormitories. 
It was a classic shade. The President's mansion 
was a large, square brick building, kept in simple 
order, where he dispensed an elegant hospitality. 
The historic associations of the college made it 
the Athens of the State. Here Henry. Barnwell, 
Preston, and Thornwell had presided with distin- 
guished ability. I have felicitated myself with the 
thought that, perhaps, it was at my suggestion to a 
trustee that Judge Longstreet was placed at the 
head of the institution. 

" IN- commanded the respect of the profes 
and was very popular among the students, who in 
gleeful respect called him ( sub rosa I ' Ned Brace,' 
• 



ADDED TO UCHES. 183 

in honor of his celebrated book, ' Georgia Scenes.' 
The Judge said to me on one occasion that he in- 
tended to redeem the humor of this book by writ- 
ing another i Georgia Scenes ' of a religious char- 
acter, but the war kept his pen at rest. 

" His management of the college evinced atten- 
tion to detail, careful instruction, fatherly kindness, 
and by his broad views and social qualities he won 
the unbounded confidence of the community. He 
had the art of popularity. His humor bubbled 
over. He greatly enjoyed the confusion of his 
host with whom he was stopping at a General 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, of which he was a member. It was the day 
of his arrival, when visitors were calling. ' Is Judge 
Longstreet in?' said one; 'Is Gov. Longstreet 
in?' said another; 'Is Dr. Longstreet in?' said a 
third ; ' Is the Rev. Mr. Longstreet in ? ' asked a 
fourth; 'Is President Longstreet in?' continued 
the callers, until his host was so upset that he was 
forced to beg by what title he should announce his 
distinguished guest. 

" President Longstreet was a Southern gentle- 
man, conspicuous for ability alike in the civil and 
ecclesiastical bodies of the country, and distin- 
guished for literary attainments. He was a clear 
if not a profound student. He could not be ranked 
with pulpit orators, for he studiously avoided all 
displays of that kind ; nor was he metaphysical in 
the pulpit, but was closely logical, and always pre- 
sented a correct exposition of the truth, enforced 
it with sound practical lessons, and sometimes 
with a quaint point that fixed it in the mind. 



184 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" In the social circle he sparkled with wit. His 
company was sought. He was simple, and easily 
approached. A little boy felt at home in his pres- 
ence. The student enjoyed his friendship. His 
love disarmed his greatness. 

" He left his mark on the character of the times. 
It was during the turbulent days of secession, when 
the ordinance had been passed at Columbia, that 
his influence was most felt at the college. 

" Between President Longstreet and his lovely 
wife there was a striking contrast. He was tall, 
bent, scarred, an oak among men; she was small, 
graceful, with a sweet face, a llower. The flower 
had climbed to the summit of the oak, and there 
rested as a crown of beauty, shedding over the 
rugged form and inspiring with fresh life every 
outstretched arm of that giant intellect. She had 
entwined herself into all his labors, and it would 
be a question which influenced the college boys 
more, the President or his charming lady. Her 
power was not seen, but felt. Her husband could 
not have attained the same greatness had he not 
possessed a better Eve, capable of guiding his 
house and of influencing his profound thoughts. 
He was keenly alive to passing influences, and his 
nature was susceptible of vivid impressions. On 
that nature she impressed the convictions of her 
own mind. His large and dependent heart gladly 
responded to the thoughts so pure and lovely, and 
made him share with her the responsibilities of his 
high position. She nobly accepted the loving 
ch irge, and linked herself in sympathy to her hus- 
band's loftiest aspirations for a higher lite, and 



ADDED TOUCHES. 185 

breathed into them the inspiration that comes only 
from a pious heart. 

"There was a charm about the house. The 
table smiled. The quiet atmosphere was redolent 
of love. The lady was a queen in manners. Noth- 
ing was commanded, yet every one owned the su- 
premacy of a subtle power. The servants caught 
the spirit. Even the President was glad to ac- 
knowledge himself the loyal subject of an accom- 
plished wife, who dutifully studied every respon- 
sibility of his life. 

" There flowed in her conversation a rhythm of 
delight. She was familiar with the English clas- 
sics; Milton, Shakespeare, Longfellow, Keats were 
her companions. She had put them in her mem- 
ory, and the sublime passages of these masters of 
poetry rolled from her bewitching tongue in collo- 
quial eloquence. She played on a better than a 
Syrian harp. The President drank from these 
wells of pure English, and sweetened the tone of 
his literature from the poetic lips of his wife. The 
salons of Paris may have attracted' the great men 
of the age, Napoleon may have been inspired by 
the brilliant women of his time; but in the home 
of Mrs. Longstreet friends found a congenial re- 
treat, pervaded with a pure atmosphere far off 
from riotous halls ; and in this charmed circle they 
saw a purer embodiment of womanhood than could 
have been seen at the dazzling court of Louis XVI. 

" It was a Christian home — no wine nor noisy 
show, no hollow flattery nor nodding plumes hid- 
ing the worm that was gnawing at the heart, no 
gilded vanity and smooth and facile courtesy and 



1 86 JUDGE LUX (.STREET. 

sarcastic epigram; but a home of real joy and sub- 
stantial love, lit up with hope, where a Christian 
wife inspires her husband with the noblest senti- 
ments of conjugal fidelity. 

" Somehow there crept out from that little wom- 
an a commanding motherly power that held three 
hundred young men loyal to the college. The 
President sat at her feet, and the boys at his. The 
daws were dark and turbulent. The State had se- 
ceded. The young men were restive to rush into 
the war, yet they were held in prudent restraint. 
We have no doubt that the President often went 
from his own house into duty endowed with a new 
spirit; and, like a son of Minerva, was made invul- 
nerable by the power of a woman. 

" This home was a shelter from the storm, and 
far above the darkness he saw one star that shed 
a soft and heavenly light on his troubled spirit. 
Nor was this a house of idleness. Those delicious 
biscuits and smoking rolls and the aromatic cof- 
fee told the story of a dutiful housewife. The 
table was hospitable, and from that board went 
food into the mouths of the poor, and at the foot- 
way of that mansion stood one whose hands had 
become the unweary instruments of dispensing to 
tlir needy. 

•• I In- charity was large. 1 [er faith was simple. 
She was a Methodist woman. Iba- Bible was 
marked with devotion; and could the walls oi her 
chamber repeat the burden oi her prayers, they 
would become witnesses of her fidelity to God. 
Here was the secrel of her power. Sin- lived with 

his. No woman can 



ADDED TOUCHES. 187 

be truly great without God. No home can become 
a retreat for man and a shelter from the troubles 
of life without a Christian woman, who guides the 
house. 

" Mrs. Longstreet was a typical Southern lady. 
She was environed in her Southern land with all 
those associations that contributed to the make-up 
of a beautiful female character. The portrait of one 
of these Southern ladies of the olden time seems 
now like a family picture found in the garret cov- 
ered with dust, but which with the fondest delight 
and surprise we love to brush off and reverently in- 
spect. In the rush of this faster age, when the 
simplicity of domestic life has almost been swept 
away, and our homes have almost been filled with 
the rubbish of European cast off style, we can 
scarcely appreciate the native dignity of a simple 
and sincere woman of the olden times. Her home 
was a power. If home be a forgotten place, if 
wives are banished to the street, if the sacred pri- 
vacy of man's dearest asylum be sacrificed to so- 
ciety, if it is noisy with bacchanalian songs, if it 
become a scene of debate and the saloon of gam- 
blers, how could that pure transplant of divine 
love, that flower of heaven, a good woman, grow 
into the beauty of a perfect womanhood? The 
ruin of home is the ruin of woman. She is home. 
Mrs. Longstreet made her home a paradise to her 
husband, and in it he found no temptation that led 
him into disloyalty to virtue." 

And these tender and discriminating touches 
from the pen of Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar cannot be 
omitted : 



1 88 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" Mrs. Longstreet was the mother of my wife, 
and she was in love, tenderness, and goodness my 
mother. It is, therefore, hardly possible for me 
either to think or speak of her as if in the per- 
spective. She was a true type of a true Southern 
woman; and when I say that, I mean she embod- 
ied that indescribable charm, that spirit of love, 
that subtle effluence of refinement, that piety and 
culture of character which rarely failed to be 
wrought into the nature of a woman reared under 
a Southern roof, with its sacred environments and 
clustering joys. 

" To an eye not accustomed to analyze the in- 
dications of female character, she might appear 
too reserved, and even retiring, to possess those 
qualities that make up a heroine in the contlicts of 
life. But her modesty, which, like a sensitive 
plant, shrank from rude familiarities, was sus- 
tained by a courage that never shrunk from hard- 
ship, trial, and self-denial. The war did not sub- 
due her spirit. She came from its desolations 
undismaved by the poverty which it entailed upon 
herself and the dear ones of her own family. She 
visited the homes of the poor, and turned her own 
into a hospital, and did not hesitate to bathe her 
gentle hand in blood that she might bind the 
wounds <>t' the dying. 

"The gentleness of her manners, the grace of 
her motion, the reserve of her dignity only served 
the better to set off the brightness that shone in 
her conversation, and to disclose an intelligence 
lint threw .1 t. harm over the modest\ oi her nature. 
Full of warmth ami tenderness ami depth oi feel- 



ADDED TOUCHES. 1 89 

ing, confiding, trustworthy, a lover of home, a true 
wife and mother, her hand touched and beautified 
and sanctified all domestic relations. 

" She was nurtured amid an elegant hospitality, 
and made familiar with all the duties and delicate 
relations of social life, which strengthened her 
character, and unconsciously prepared her to glide 
into the higher power of mistress over a numerous 
body of domestics and dependents, and to govern 
a Southern patriarchal home. The profound and 
long-abiding attachment between the mistress and 
her old servants, including the descendants of the 
old negro nurse who rocked her in the cradle, and 
the dusky maids with whom she played ' house ' in 
childhood, was not shaken by the war; but it lin- 
gers even to this day, and illustrates the substan- 
tial and lasting; influences of the old home life." 



THE END. 



At the close of the war Judge Longstreet re- 
turned to Oxford, Miss. 1 lis opinions were 
unchanged and his spirit unbroken. lie had read 
history too well to accept the shallow assumption 
that the worsted party in a tight is always in the 
wrong. He knew that good causes often seem to 
be lost causes in this world. The appeal to brute 
force in war is decided by brute force. On that 
arena an able-bodied prize-fighter is superior to a 
feeble-bodied saint, and ten soldiers well fed and 
equipped are too hard for half the number half-led 
and poorly equipped. In men and money the 
North was too strong for the South. That to him 
was all of it. No word was spoken or written by 
him after the war ended that indicated any change 
of opinion or any compunctions of conscience con- 
cerning the part he had played in the great conflict 
of ideas that preceded the conflict of arms, It lie 
had had any misgivings, he would have expressed 
them. On the contrary, there is evidence enough 
in his reply to Mr. Reemelin that he held tena- 
ciously to the political views he had always main- 
tained, and was ready to break a lance in their 
defense against any opponent. But he had the 
common sense that accepts the inevitable ami deals 
with things as they are ; and from the broken frag- 
ments of his political hopes he sought, in common 
(190) 



THE END. 191 

with the truest surviving soldiers of the late South- 
ern Confederacy, to reconstruct the temple of the 
Federal Union. He made no hypocritical profes- 
sion of repentance, but he was neither factious nor 
obstructive. 

Besides this common sense he had another prin- 
ciple of action that now manifested its presence 
and power. He was a Christian, and his thought 
turned toward religion as the source of true com- 
fort and undying hope. No shadow of doubt con- 
cerning the eternal verities that were the objects 
of his faith crossed his mind ; no murmur escaped 
his lips because of the calamities that were permit- 
ted to come upon the South and upon his own tem- 
poral fortunes. His courage and hope were rooted 
in the same faith that enabled the apostle Paul to 
say: " We are troubled on every side, yet not dis- 
tressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 
persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not 
destroyed." (2 Cor. iv. 8, 9.) 

He had years before projected a work entitled 
"Correction of Canonized Errors of Biblical In- 
terpretation," and it is a remarkable evidence of 
his will power and buoyancy of spirit that at this 
late period of his life he set about the study of the 
Hebrew language that he might be the better qual- 
ified for the task. The Bible was the companion 
of his days and nights, and in that companionship 
he found spiritual illumination, enlargement, and 
delight. He grew in grace and in the knowledge 
of heavenly things. His piety took on a deeper 
and serener tone, his noble face reflected the 
spiritual-mindedness of a soul in daily commun- 



192 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ion with God. How much was lost by the burn- 
ing of the manuscript of this book, upon which he 
had set his heart, none can tell, but the writing of 
it was to him a blessing and a joy, and its subject- 
ive benefits were a sufficient compensation for the 
time and toil given to it. The death of his wife 
turned his thought heavenward with still greater 
intensity, for if ever there was a union of souls for 
both worlds, it was theirs. Absorbed with the la- 
bor of love he had undertaken, and longing for 
heaven's rest and reunions, growing feebler and 
gentler as the days went by, he moved among the 
circles of Oxford venerated as a sage and loved as 
a father. 

He died July 10, 1870, surrounded by the mem- 
bers of his family circle. The death scene was 
almost a demonstration of immortalit}-. His mind 
was clear, and his soul was calm in the assurance 
of Christian hope. Placing his finger upon his 
wrist, he marked the beating of his failing pulse. 
Growing weaker, his hand dropped away, and the 
finger lost its place. Motioning that it should be 
replaced, it was done, and he resumed the count 
of his last heart-beats, growing fainter and fainter. 
"Look, Jennie, look!" exclaimed one of the awe- 
struck by-standers, as he beheld a sudden illumi- 
nation overspread the pale face of the dying man. 
with a look of wonder and joy in his eyes, and 
every feature expressing unearthly rapture. That 
was the end. 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 



[These old letters, it is thought, will throw some side lights on the times 
when they were written, and help to fill some gaps in this biography. They 
will be appreciated by the class of readers for whom they are intended. — 
The Author.] 

FROM JUDGE LONGSTREET TO A. H. STEPHENS. 

Oxford, Miss., September 22, 1S69. 

My Dear Stephens: I write you this letter because I know- 
that it will please you, because I think it is due to you, and be- 
cause my heart forbids me to repress it. I have said many 
things of your political course, commonly disapprobatory; I 
have said as many things of your private character, altvays in 
the highest degree complimentary. Well, if you were right in 
those matters which called forth my strictures, I ask pardon for 
them ; if you were wrong, you have in your recent works made 
such ample amends for your errors that I most freely and fully 
consign them all to oblivion. 

I read your '■'■Life'''' with interest, youi book with delight, and 
your reply to Curtis with commingled emotions of transport 
and triumph; for, somehow or another, I have always had a 
sort of parental feeling toward you even in my corrections, or 
rather in spite of them. Your correspondence with Bledsoe 
never met my eye, but I read his review of your work which 
gave birth to it, and I pronounced it at once hypercritical. Noth- 
ing that I ever said about you will compare in harshness with 
what I have said about and to him, for I thought he injured 
me repeatedly and covertly. He said I did him injustice, and 
perhaps I did to some extent; but if I did, the supposed offenses 
are long since forgiven, as I hope the retributions are. I men- 
tion these things as preliminary to what I have to say of the 
recent productions of his pen. You will learn from it that my 
judgment is not the result of previous bias in his favor. I con- 
sider the Southern Revie.tv the best periodical of the kind ever 
published in America; and to the South, a fortress and a fort- 
une. His work entitled "Is Jeff Davis a Traitor?" I have not 
seen, but the Hon. Jacob Thompson says that it is the ablest 
vindication of our State rights doctrines that he ever read in so 
small a compass; and I say yours is the best that I ever read in 

13 (193) 



194 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

so large a compass. Now Bledsoe, when he was with me, was 
an old school Federalist, warp and rilling. This, I helieve, he 
somewhere acknowledges openly. You may have been all your 
life, in principle, a politician of the Jeffersonian school; and, 
for aught I know, you may be able to pick out a hundred pas- 
sages from your speeches and writings to prove it. but from iis^o 
to the appearance of your book I never regarded you as such. 
Of course, then, I never expected to see a vindication of State 
sovereignty from the pen of either of you, much less such a 
masterly vindication of the doctrine as you have both laid be- 
fore the world, But the great wonder of the whole matter is 
that you two should have relieved me, in my old age, from the 
arduous labor of a work upon the same subject which I had 
commenced, but which I am sure I could not live to finish, by 
anticipating me in nearly all that I could have said in that work. 
I but just commenced it, and flung it aside until I could dispose 
of some more important matters. These matters are of a relig- 
ious character, and you will hear of them anon. 

Still I have some views of State sovereignty which have never 
occurred to anybody else so far as I know, and which seem to 
me to be of very great force. Now if you will have Curti6'e 
strictures upon your book, and your reply to it, pamphleted in 
good readable type, and send me a pamphlet, I will write a re- 
view of the controversy; and I flatter myself that between us 
we will reduce the great jurist to atoms. You have floored 
him, and, for your own credit's sake you ought to book the con- 
troversy. Your reply I consider the master effort of your life, 
if any thing could be better than your reply to Campbell upon 
Ohio" and Georgia. By the way, did you not take the hint of 
that comparison from my comparison of Georgia and Massa- 
chusetts? 

Well, when I think of you and Toombs as you now are, and 
as you were twelve or fourteen years ago, I feel like killing the 
fatted calf, and -waking up music and dancing. " But we were not 
"prodigals; we have always stood square on the Virginia and 
Kentucky resolutions!" Well, yes, but somehow or another I 
took up the notion that in 1S40 you took a sudden jumping-fit, 
and jumped off the resolutions upon log cabins, cider-bands, 
and 'coon-skins; and as I could not date your back-jump for 
many years, I considered you clean gone from the f.iith of your 
fathers. Hence inv rejoicing when I found you both not only 
planted upon the resolutions, hut defending them with arms In- 
vincible. Will, as Ransy Sniffle Says, " w C are all friends now ." 
Toombs has endeared himself to me recently unspeakably, and 
I am very sure you would have done the same with like oppor- 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 195 

tunities. In truth, I do not believe the day has ever been when 
either of you would not as readily have ministered to my needs 
as the best friend I have in the world. 

You know that I am and always have been a man of truth, 
and I know that you will not question the sincerity of one word 
that I have recorded in this letter. Men may, therefore, be po- 
litical opponents and personal friends. May our friendship be 
cemented by a stronger luting than earth can furnish, and con- 
tinue and strengthen when all things earthly shall have passed 
away! 

Yours sincerely, A. B. Longstreet. 



WILLIAM C. PRESTON TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Columbia, S. C, March 3, 1858. 

My Dear Sir: You were so kind as to permit me to under- 
stand that you would at some time favor us with a lecture at the 
Athenaeum. May 1 ask and hope that it may be convenient to 
you to do so shortly? I wish to establish a regular lecture every 
Friday evening during the spring, and should be glad to have it 
inaugurated by you. The professors of the college promise me 
that they Avill follow you in turn. The Athenaeum is an institu- 
tion cognate to your own pursuits, and to those high purposes 
which are known toliave actuated your life. The Atheneeum has 
no material interest in its organization. Its purposes are pure- 
ly philanthropic, and, of course, claim to be in co-operation 
with the highest of all philanthropy — religion. 

I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 

William C. Preston. 

Judge Longstreet. 



HOPE HULL TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Athens, February 23, 1844. 
My Dear Friends: I heard for the first time, only about two 
hours before receiving your letter, that you had lost your little 
boy; and, although I have rarely met with a child out of my 
own family that took so strong hold of my affections as did 
your darling Rebecca, and although I shall feel her absence 
from your family circle very much, yet I felt some relief when 
I learned that you were not mourning for your only son. The 
younger children occupy more of our attention ; the elder more 
of our thoughts, our hopes, our fears; and therefore we feel 
the absence of the little ones more at first, but we sooner be- 



196 JUDGE LONGSTRBBT. 

come accustomed to the loss. We may feel the stroke more 
keenly, but the pain does not last so long. 

I once saw a remark that gave me much consolation under 
a like bereavement. The idea was this: It ought to be the sole 
object of parents to lead their children (" prone to wander ") into 
the heavenly fold of Christ, all other desires, hopes, and views 
being nothing in comparison with that. Now if the great Shep- 
herd should, in compassion for our ignorance and weakness, 
take those little lambs at once into his bosom, never to be in 
danger or want or suffering again, ought we to repine? Should 
we not rejoice rather, and thank the kind Shepherd for doing at 
once for us that which should be the work of our whole lives; 
that which we only endeavor to effect by precept and example, 
and might fail at last to accomplish? The idea was a very con- 
soling one to me, and seemed a very happy illustration of our 
inability to control the waywardness of our little lambs, and 
save them from those devouring wolves, evil men, and evil pas- 
sions, and the roaring lion. May God comfort and strengthen 
your hearts, and abundantly make up the loss of your precious 
little girl by larger supplies of his grace and Spirit! 

As it regards young s, the President did submit the letter 

to the Faculty, / was absent at the time. The decision was 
unanimous that he could not be received. I think it does not 
materially change the merits of the case that •• he was not strict- 
ly dismissed or expelled." He had fallen under the censure of 
the government of the college for grave offenses, or, in college 
parlance, crimes of which we were informed. Now, we some- 
times send a student away for idleness or inattention to college 
duties; and we usually advise the father to take his son away 
and try another school and new associates; and such delin- 
quents we may and sometimes do recommend to be received 
into other schools, or simply state that he is dismissed at his 
father's request, but never when he is chargeable with such of- 
fenses as 's. 

But I believe entirely in the correctness of your views in re- 
lation to cutting off a young man's opportunities for acquiring 
education, and 1 so expressed mvself, 1 think, in one of mv let- 
ters to you. Collegiate institutions have fallen into an erro- 
neous manner of action in such cases. The laws of all colleges 
recognize a difference between expulsion and dismission. That 
difference lias lie en losl sighl <>f. It used to be thus considered : 
When a student is expelled, no other respectable school can re- 
ceive him; but if be be dismissed only, then another college 
in. iv admit him without giving offense to tin' institution from 

which he was sent; or the same school mav receive him back 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 197 

whenever they may see proper and give him another trial, the 
only question in either case being: Shall we take the risk of 
getting a troublesome scholar or injurious young man in the 
hope of reforming him? I say these things were formerly so 
regarded. Not so now. Our Faculty, and I presume yours, 
and I am told other boards of instruction regard the terms syn- 
onymous. Now I think the old rule should re-enacted, and it 
would at once remove all the difficulties. Two students might 
be guilty of the same violation of laws at the same time, and 
one might be expelled, the other dismissed. Both condemned, 
and only one recommended to mercy. This rule would keep 
up a proper distinction in the degrees of punishment. What 
think you? 

Dr. Stevens, before his election to the professorship, accepted 
the appointment of orator for one of your Societies. He is anx- 
ious to know the precise day on which that oration is to be de- 
livered, so that he may know as soon as may be whether he can 
attend or be obliged to resign. The last is much the more prob- 
able, although he would be pleased to perform the duty if he 
can absent himself from his engagement here. He asks you to 
give him directly, or through me, the desired information at an 
early day. 

Many thanks for your kind offer of a home to William Bacon. 
But it's just like you and your wife do things. He left for Wal- 
ton Court early in the week. 

Ann and I beg to offer our kindest regards and tenderest 
sympathies to all the family. 

Your letter was received this morning. 

Very truly yours, H. Hull. 



JUDGE PETTIGRU TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Columbia, Nov. 29, 1S57. 
My Dear Longstrcet : I ought to have been the first to an- 
nounce your election to the first scat in the South Carolina Col- 
lege, which took place on the 25th inst., and has been already 
communicated to you by our Secretary. Your letter to Gen. 
Rogers dispelled the doubt that rested on the subject of your 
consent, and at the first ballot, without any preconcert, you were 
chosen as the President of the college in a very full meeting of 
the Board of Trustees. It is an evidence of the high esteem 
which your life and character have created among those who 
never saw you, for I believe Judge Wardlaw and myself and his 
brother were the only persons on the Board that could claim a 



198 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

personal acquaintance with you. And I am happy to say that 
the way in which our nomination has been received outside of 
the Board is highly gratifying to your friends and cannot be less 
so to yourself. I hope you will be able to leave Mississippi at 
so early a day as to be settled here in your new residence and to 
make yourself somewhat at home before the 1st of January, 
when the college exercises begin to assume their stated course 
after the interruption of the Christmas recess. As you are not 
new to the task of governing a seminary of this kind, I hope 
that you will easily adapt yourself to the duties of your new sit- 
uation. I flatter myself that you will meet with a friendly re- 
ception on the part of the gentlemen that are to be associated 
with you, and that you will commence your labors with the pres- 
tige of public favor. But I would not conceal from you that the 
task which you have undertaken is one of no ordinary difficulty. 
This college has never been remarkable for the docility of our 
youth to the restraints of authority. To maintain the cause of 
order in such a college requires the firmness of a strong hand 
tempered by the prudence of an enlightened discretion. And 
it is on these qualifications that we depend for your successful 
administration of this great public trust. And I assure you, my 
dear Longstreet, that not only on public grounds, but on those 
of long cherished sentiments of early friendship, I feel the great- 
est solicitude for success. And hoping that we may enjoy more 
frequent opportunities of renewing the intercourse that has been 
so long suspended, I am yours faithfully, 

T. L. Pettigru. 
The Rev. A. B. Longstreet, Abbeville, Miss. 



JUDGE LONGSTREET TO COL. LAMAR. 

Oxford, Miss., Nov. 13, 1863. 
My Dear Lucius: To avail myself of the bearer's hand I write 
to you. We are in a peck of troubles. Your plantation will 
soon be a battle-field. We shall be whipped on it, and the Yan- 
kees will make a desert of it. Mac. is ready to move off the hands, 
but where to lie knows not, and I know not how to advise him. 
lie speaks of taking them to a railroad in progress in this State. 
I think they would he safe in or about Sarepta; but how are they 
to be disposed of there? At the salt-works in Alabama they 
could make an ample support, but there must be a great dearth 
of provisions there. So at the New Iberia salt-works, Louis- 
iana, hut the Yankees will soon take them. As to your planta- 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 199 

tion, it matters but little whether it be made the camping-ground 
of our forces during the winter or fall into the hands of the ene- 
my ; in either event you will have neither stock nor provisions 
in the spring. Of course Oxford falls into the hands of the 
Yankees as soon as our troops are driven from the river. Wife 
will stay and meet them, Virginia and children will go to Ox- 
ford or Covington, Ga., and I will skulk about the country here 
somewhere. I say " we shall be whipped," for I consider this 
about as certain as we fight. . . . The prospect before us is 
awful. 

If you go to England, and I have not a chance to give you a 
letter of introduction to her, search out Mrs. McCulloch, wife 
of a Member of Parliament, who introduced herself to me at 
Sir Milnor Gibson's party and who has since sent her respects 
to me, and introduce yourself to her as my son-in-law and the 
bearer of my warmest regards to her. Run over to Chelms- 
ford, visit Admiral McHardy's family and do the like to the 
whole family, presenting my most grateful acknowledgments 
to 'them for the happiest hours of my visit to Europe spent 
under their roof. 

The government has a quantity of cotton in the northern 
part of this county which should be removed immediately, or 
the Yankees will get it, or it will be burned. So I told Mr. Poe 
the other day, when he very coolly replied: "Mr. DeBow" (in 
Jackson/) "is making arrangements to move it." I am looking 
daily for an advance of the enemy. 
* Henry will hold on to his place. 

Heaven bless you. A. B. Longstreet. 



W. GILMORE SIMMS TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Woodlands, S. C, March 22, i860. 

Hon. A. B. Longstreet, Dear Sir: I Owe to you the original MS. 
biography which you were so good as to send me, and beg you 
to accept my thanks for your polite attention. I did not pre- 
viously answer your letter, as I desired to be able to report that 
the material had all been arranged and sent on to the publishers. 
This is now done. I have written to Messrs. Appleton to abridge 
as little as possible. In preparing your material, I separated the 
matter relating to William Longstreet and made that into a sep- 
arate article preceding yours, as it seemed to me to merit a place 
for itself. 

Yours very truly and respectfully, W. Gilmore Simms. 



200 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

DR. L. M. SMITH TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Emory College, Oxford, Ga., April 16, 1870. 
Rev. A. B. Longstreet — Honored and Beloved Doctor: It has 
been a long time since I had the pleasure of hearing from you 
directly; and in common with many of your friends and former 
pupils in Georgia I earnestly desire to sec you once more face 
to face. Will you not gratify this desire by making a visit to 
Oxford this next summer? Dr. Lamar has promised to address 
the literary societies. Will you not accompany him and deliv- 
er the prizes to the Sophomore declaimers with customary ad- 
dress? In the name of the entire Faculty I earnestly request 
you to do us the honor of accepting this invitation. I hope I 
shall have an early affirmative response, that I may gladden col- 
lege, Church, and country with the announcement that Judge 
Longstreet will be in Oxford at our approaching Commence- 
ment. I need not tell you how gladly you will be welcomed by 
your old friends, nor how joyfully Mrs. Lane and Callie will 
unite with me in extending to you the hospitalities of my home. 
You are well aware that you have a home in every house and 
heart in Oxford. I am greatly gratified at the prospect of hear- 
ing and seeing Lucius again. Please give to him assurances of 
my highest regard. It is probable that I shall attend the Mem- 
phis Conference if I can do so consistently with my official du- 
ties here. If so, I may have the pleasure of seeing one or both 
of you during the session of that great Methodist Congress. I 
should be happy to hear from you before leaving, in the event I 
should go. I have had a great deal of hard work to do. ami feel 
greatly the need of rest both for body and mind. But I must 
stop my running pen. I only intended to write a brief note, and 
I am unconsciously prolonging it into a letter. Asking, my 
dear doctor, an interest in your prayers alike for the college, 
myself, and family, I remain as ever yours affectionately and 
truly, * Luther M. Smith. 



PRESIDENT DAY TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Yale Coi 1 1 GE, A.ug, 20, 1851. 
Rev. and Dear Sir : Permit me to express my gratification at 
having it in my power to state to you that the corporation of 
this college at our public Commencement the present w eek have 
conferred on you the degree of Doctor of Laws. 1 am aware 
that these academic honors are liable to a diminution of their in- 
trinsic value by being distributed with too lavish a hand. Bui 
this college aims to make a selection of men of such distinguished 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 201 

merit as will confer honor rather than receive it by having their 
names enrolled in the list of its favorites. 

With high respect and with affectionate personal regard, jour 
obedient servant, Jeremiah Day. 

Rev. A. B. Longstreet, LL.D. 



PROF. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 
Philadelphia, January 8, 1858. 

My Dear Sir: I learn with great pleasure that the Trustees of 
the South Carolina College have elected you its President; and 
though at this distance,, with years intervening since I had the 
pleasure of seeing you, I feel impelled by my old Georgia friend- 
ship to offer you my sincere congratulations. I have not lost 
sight of you since I had the pleasure of knowing you in Athens 
and at Emory College, Oxford, and I am glad that you have re- 
turned from your Mississippi exile to the 6ea-board States again. 

My brother-in-law, Prof. Henry Coppee, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, in this city, has recently published a work on 
logic which I am anxious to bring to your notice. 

Prof. Coppee is a native Georgian ; was educated at West 
Point, N. Y.; was in every battle with Gen. Scott in Mexico, for 
gallant conduct in which he was brevetted, arid at the conclu- 
sion of the war was stationed at the Military Academy, West 
Point, as Principal Assistant Professor of Ethics. While in that 
department he was elected to supply the vacancy caused by the 
death of Prof. Henry Reed. He then resigned his commission 
in the army, and resides here. 

His logic is, in my estimation, the best text-book that I have 
ever seen. I taught logic as one of my branches for five years 
in the University of Georgia, but I always felt crippled because 
I had no proper text-book, and I know many other professors 
who have been troubled in the same way. Hedge is too meager 
and inaccurate, Whately is too abstruse and difficult, Mill is too 
diffuse and involved ; and there was, in fact, no suitable work for 
college boys until Prof. Coppee has happily supplied the desid- 
eratum. Lest, however, you should think I speak too flattering- 
ly, I will state that though the book has been published only a 
few months it is already adopted as the text-book in seven or 
eight colleges, and among them Yale and Princeton, certainly 
very high authority. I have requested the publisher to send 
you a copy, which will, however, speak for itself. I thought 
that if it met your approbation as a scientific work it would grati- 



202 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

iy you to introduce a book on logic into a Southern college 
written by a Southerner and a Georgian. 

It is so rare to find good text-books written by Southerners 
that Southern colleges should introduce them whenever their 
merit will permit. 

With sentiments of sincere respect I remain yours truly, 

William Bacon Stevens. 
President A. B. Longstreet, LL.D., South Carolina College. 



MRS. LONGSTREET TO HER HUSBAND. 

Oxford, August S, 1S60. 

Just as I was hastily closing the first sheet inclosed, Lucius 
called my attention to your communication in the London Morn- 
ing Chronicle. We were not much surprised at your withdrawal 
from the Congress, having seen a brief notice of Lord Brough- 
am's remarks about two days previous in the Columbia Guardian. 
I saw and heard no more of it, however, from any other paper; 
and concluded, while writing, it was not worth while to allude 
to it, as it might be a hoax, when I read the little paragraph in 
the Guardian, which was simply this: "At the International 
Statistical Congress, which was convened at London, Lord 
Brougham called Mr. Dallas's attention to the fact that there 
was a negro present, who was a member of that body. The 
negro rose and thanked Brougham for his kindly recognition, 
which was loudly cheered." I asked Lucius what it meant and 
why Lord B. should do so. He replied that it was meant for 
you, because you were from a slave-holding State, and that it 
was placing you in a ticklish situation. Your position was 
quite a delicate one, and seemed to think something must needs 
grow out of it. lie and Henry both think you took the proper 
course. Lucius told me that he was rather fearful you might 
not notice it, and therein- draw censure upon yoursell. We are 
all grieved to think your mission has been attended with any 
circumstance to mar its pleasure and defeat its object, but you 
have given the English some home thrusts and told them some 
truths which 1 hope will do them good. 

When 1 first n-ad your letter, 1 concluded you would return 
on the first Cunard strainer thai left for the U, S., and that it 
would be useless to mail my letter. Lucius said you would 
certainly wait until you heard from your government, and, 
upon a more careful perusal, 1 came to the conclusion that vwi 

might remain even for weeks to come In some part of Europe, 
and &u I would send this whether it reached you or not. If it 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 203 

is not a matter of duty for you to return promptly as a govern- 
ment agent who has failed -to effect the purpose of his mission, 
I can't see why you should not carry out your original plan of 
seeing as much of Great Britain and the Continent as the vaca- 
tion will allow you. We would greatly prefer to have you with 
us than anywhere else, especially so far away as you now are; 
but, as you assert most positively that this is the last time you 
will ever visit Europe, do make the best of it. I want you to 
see and know as much as you can from your own observation 
about the Old World. I was sorry you made that vow before 
you took me on to see the marvelous wonders, beauties, and 
curiosities to be met with in that distant region. But if my kind 
heavenly Father will vouchsafe a sure and favorable return for 
you, I will be perfectly satisfied with the measure of his good- 
ness allotted to me. 

Fanny is still improving, though still too weak to sit up long 
at a time. I am better too. All well now but Fanny Lamar, 
who has had fever for a couple of days. She is up, and taking 
quinine to-day. 

Lucius has been preparing a speech for several days to deliv- 
er at the Junction to-morrow at a great Breckenridge and Lane 
mass-meeting; but, to our surprise, told us this morning that he 
was going to his plantation to return to-night, and that he would 
not go to the Junction. Why, he did not state. 

There was a very excellent farmer here yesterday who pro- 
poses to buy out the one-half of Lucius's part of the land at six 
dollars an acre, and they two should buy out your part, this 
man to oversee the place and attend to Lucius's little ne- 
groes. They are to be joint owners of every thing except the 
negroes. I don't know whether they will put in an equal num- 
ber of hands or not. Henry said he thought it would be a very 

good arrangement for Lucius. I dont know how L regards 

it himself. He says this man is known to be a fine farmer. I 
can't remember his name. Miller can't be induced to stay any 
longer, as he wishes to give up overseeing and turn doctor. 

Farewell. Heaven bless and bring you back safely to your 
devoted wife. F. E. L. 

GOV. JOSEPH E. BROWN TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Executive Department, ) 

Milledgeville, Ga., January 26, 1861. ) 
My Dear Sir: On my return to the capital yesterday from 
Augusta, I found your note of the 17th inst. ; and in reply, I 
have the honor to state that it is my earnest desire, if it can be 



204 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

done consistently with the honor and safety of the South, to 
avoid a hostile meeting between the forces of the Federal Gov- 
ernment and the forces or citizens of our section: and, to the 
extent of my power or influence, I shall labor to prevent the 
shedding of blood, unless we shall be driven to that dire neces- 
sity purely in self-defense. In all my communications with the 
authorities or citizens of our sister States, I have endeavored to 
impress them with a sense of the propriety of such a course. 
If blood must come out of this contest, I am determined, so far 
as I am concerned, that blame shall rest upon our aggressors, 
and not upon our people. Georgia will not, and I trust no 
Southern State will, place herself in the wrong, let come what 
will. And I entertain the hope that the South will not, at least 
before the 4th of March, be driven to the necessity of defending 
her rights and her honor by force of arms on her own soil. 

Thanking you for your suggestions, believe me very sincere- 
ly your obedient servant, Joseph E. Brown. 

Hon. A. 13. Longstreet, Columbia, S. C. 



SALEM BUTCHER TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Montgomery, Ala., March 6, 1S67. 
lion. A. B. Longstreet, Oxford, Miss. — Sir: In a copy of the 
Macon (Ga.) Telegraph of the 3d inst., seen by chance this morn- 
ing, appeared a letter signed "Vim," and dated " Sallillo, Lee 
County, Miss., February 23, 1867," from which the inclosed clip- 
ping was made. It is pleasant, sir, to note the statements of this 
excerpt; and I write as a citizen, though not a native, of Geor- 
gia to express the gratification wherewith those statements have 
fallen under my eye. Since August, [864, 1 have been a resi- 
dent of Augusta, iii which city 1 edited the Constitutionalist for 
some eighteen months immediately subsequent to the unfortu- 
nate close of the war, and in that scene of your early labors of 
course heard much that gave a new interest to productions read 
and admired years before. On retiring from the editorship of 
the Constitutionalist, my first leisure was devoted to the prepara- 
tion of a lecture on '"'The Wits of Georgia," using the word 
" wit" in the old Addisonian sense to include those lighter im- 
aginative talents, which w as delii ered first in Augusta and after- 
ward in Savannah, though of late professional business luis for- 
bidden a further repetition. In the preparation, however, of 
this lecture i! became necessary to read, with a critical attention, 
works previously read for mere amusement; ami, as we love 
that whereon we have labored, the humor and humorists of 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 205 

Georgia have come, as it were, to have a very special interest in 
my eyes. 

With this much, therefore, in explanation (if it need it) of this 
letter, I desire to say it would give me pleasure to forward your 
views in the disposal of the copyright of the revised " Scenes." 
Among my clients is a publishing firm in New York largely 
interested in Southern works, and now purposing to extend their 
operations in this direction. With the head of this firm I am 
personally quite well acquainted, and deem it probable he would 
be happy to propose you a satisfactory arrangement should I 
present the matter to his attention. If consonant with your 
wishes, I would, of course, do so. It is not impossible, as I shall 
shortly visit Mississippi on legal business, that I may be able to 
visit Oxford; but as the matter is not certain, it were as well, 
perhaps, to write me here, addressing to care of " Sidney Lanier, 
Esq., Exchange Hotel." 

During some late tedious railway travel I found an abundant 
solace in " Master William Mitten," and cannot but think it has 
failed to receive the attention it should. Appearing, however, 
in a time of great public commotion is the occasion of that 
seeming disregard beyond doubt. 

Trusting, sir, to speedily hear from you, and in hopes (know- 
ing " Bill Arp " and " Major Jones ") to add thereto a personal 
acquaintance with yourself, I am, with great respect, truly 
yours, Salem Dutcher. 



ROBERT B. CAMPBELL TO JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

London, November 16, i860. 

My Dear Sir : Your valued favor of the 20th ult., with its in- 
closure, signed Manchester, has been received. In noting con- 
tents, I beg to express my deep sympathy with you in your 
physical sufferings, and sincere pleasure at the information of 
your partial restoration to health and usefulness. You are one 
of those men of genius and purity of purpose and character that 
the South at any time could illy spare. At this time your loss 
would be among the irreparables; and as your personal friend 
and a grateful lover of South Carolina, I most fervently pray 
that your health may be speedily and vigorously re-established. 

Mr. O'Reilly's case, to which you have brought my notice, 
has received my attention. Please say to him that I have writ- 
ten to the Secretary of the E. I. Co.; and when a reply has been 
received, it will be communicated to him, and that I will do all 
in my power to serve him. 



206 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

In relation to " Manchester " being inserted in the Times, you 
will see by the number I send you by this steamer that they 
never publish anonymous articles. To give my name would be 
untrue. I have marked in the Times of yesterday its first lead- 
er, and a part of a speech of Lord Palmerston's at a dinner, to 
each of which I would draw your particular attention. The 
leader contains no eulogy on the South; assumes the election 
of Lincoln; that the South has had a deserved defeat; attacks 
her for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, invasion of 
Kansas, the fugitive slave law; the Dred-Scott decision stigma- 
tized as extra-judicial, and given by a partisan judge; and the 
countenance given to the attack upon Sumner. 

You request me to ascertain whether Great Britain will rec- 
ognize the independence of South Carolina, and open commer- 
cial relations with her immediately upon her secession. The 
fulfillment of this request is a mere impossibility. The Tunes, 
you will perceive, looks upon secession as an idle threat, intend- 
ed only to operate upon the presidential election. The depres- 
sion of stocks at the North is viewed in the same light, and the 
conviction here is that they will favorably react as soon as the 
election is declared. Statesmen, politicians, merchants, bankers 
here entertain the same opinion; and, so far as I know, no 
American in London except myself thinks the South in earnest. 
You must recollect that I am the only Southern man residing 
in London, which may account for the universality of opinion 
among our countrymen. Under this existing opinion you will 
at once perceive that no Governor or statesman can be commit- 
ted to any particular action on a contingency which he does not 
believe will arise. To do so would stultify himself, and subject 
him to the charge of a vain attempt to effect the dissolution of 
the Union. You and all others who have observed the action 
of this government know that its policy is that of non-interven- 
tion; that it recognizes all governments dc ftic/oas soon as there 
is a reasonable probability of its being able to maintain itself; 
and as for commerce and trade, you are well aware that these 
are primary considerations with all Englishmen, and I should 
think it preposterous to presume that the South would he treat- 
ed in a manner different from all other governments. It is my 
duty, however, to say to you that there does not exist in the 
English heart the slightest sympathy with slavery. Whether 
that heart be in the breast of the highest or the lowest, the in- 
stitution is tolerated as an exceptional one that cannot he re- 
moved instanter; hut no Englishman believes in its perpetuity, 
or will do an act to contribute to such a result /•<-/• 50. Not that 
I believe they could lie induced to join in an armed crusade 



SOME OLD LETTERS. 



207 



against slavery, but they would certainly give the moral influ- 
ence of public opinion against it. 

The reception'of the Prince of Wales in the United States has 
produced here a most extraordinary effect. It has allayed all 
jealousy for the time. The observations of Lord Palmerston, 
which I have marked, is a tame expression of feeling in com- 
parison with many others. We are now viewed as a great cog- 
nate nation of brothers without faults, except such as are com- 
mon to both countries, as worthy above all other nations of 
English respect and of English love. 

Yours most truly, Robert B. Campbell. 

Hon. A. B. Longstreet, Columbia, S. C. 



NOTE. 



It should have been noted at the proper place 
that Judge Longstreet was a delegate to the Con- 
vention held in Louisville, Ky., in 1844, at which 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was or- 
ganized, and made an able and exhaustive legal 
argument on the questions involved in the separa- 
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church into two 
co-equal parts. It was an accidental omission, but 
perhaps it is well enough to spare the reader the 
rehearsal of the oft-told story oi that eventful time. 
The wheat has been threshed out of this historical 
straw. Let the old trouble rest. Our forefathers 
bequeathed to us a long quarrel and a cruel war. 
Let us bequeath to those who will come after us 
everlasting peace. There be those on either side 
who love to fight over the old battle, but the maker 
of this book is of a different mind. 
(208) 



APPENDIX. 



GEORGIA SCENES, NEW AND OLD. 

14 (209) 



Like a hungry boy at a dinner-table, eager for 
the dessert, many readers will feel like reading this 
"Appendix" first, and then taking their time for 
the rest of the book. So be it. The author is sure 
he would feel the same way about it. O. P. F. 
(210) 



DARBY ANVIL. 



(never before published.) 

I well remember the first man who, without any 
qualifications for the place, was elected to the 
Legislature of Georgia. He was a* blacksmith by 
trade, and Darby Anvil was his name. I would 
not be understood as saying that none had preced- 
ed him but men of profound wisdom or even not- 
able talents (at the time of which I am speaking 
such men were not to be found in every county of 
the State), but that none had been deputed to that 
body who were not vastly superior to Anvil in ev- 
ery moral and intellectual quality. 

Darby came hither just at the close of the Rev- 
olutionary War; and, if his own report of himself 
is to be believed, "he jit" in that memorable strug- 
gle. True, he never distinctly stated on which 
side "he fit;" but as he spoke freely of the inci- 
dents of the revolution, and at a time when Tories 
were very scarce and very mute, it was taken for 
granted that he fought on the right side. 

Darby established himself upon a lot in the then 

village of , which cost him nothing ; for in his 

day town lots, and even large tracts of land, were 
granted to any one who would occupy them for a 
given time. Two log huts soon rose upon Darby's 
lot, into one of which he stowed his wife and chil- 
dren, and in the other his blacksmith's tools. He 

(211) 



212 JUDGE LONGSTREE. 

now plied his trade assiduously; and as all trades 
flourished at that time, he grew rich apace. A 
year had hardly rolled away before a snug frame 
house rose in front of his log dwelling, and his 
shop gave place to one of more taste and conven- 
ience from the hands of a carpenter. The brand 
of horse-shoes upon the shop-door no longer served 
Darby for a sign; but high over the entrance of 
the smithery, from a piece of iron-work of crooks 
and convoluticfhs unutterable, hung a flaming sign- 
board, decorated on either side with appropriate 
designs. On one side was Darby in person, shoe- 
ing Gen. Washington's horse. I say it was Wash- 
ington' s horse because Darby said so, and Billv 
Spikes, who painted it, said so. Certainly, it was 
large enough for Washington's horse; for. taking 
Darby, whose height I knew, for a guage, the horse 
could not have been less than five and twenty feet 
high. On the other side was a plow, with handles 
nine feet long (by the same measure), studded 
with hoes and axes, staples and horse-shoes. 

Every thing around Darby bore the aspect of 
thrift and comfort — in short, his fortune increased 
even faster than his children: and this is no 
small compliment to his industry and economy, for 
Mrs. Anvil had not for many years suffered eight- 
een months to pass without reminding him. with 
a blush through a smirk, that she would " soon 
want a little sugar and coffee and sweetened dram 
for the little stranger." Darby had just received 
the tenth notice of this kind when he resolved to 
turn politician. Whether the notices had any in- 
fluence upon him in forming this rash resolution. 



DARBY ANVIL, 21 3 

I am not prepared to say; but certain it is that he 
had received them, for several years preceding, 
with a rapidly declining interest, insomuch that, 
when the last came, it gave to his countenance an 
expression better suited to dyspepsia than to such 
joyous tidings ; and he was proceeding to make a 
most uncourteous response, when the kindling fire 
of his lady's eye brought him to an anticlimax of 
passive gentility. 

" Why, Nancy," said he, "Lord 'a' massy on my 
soul! I don't grudge }^ou the rum and coffee and 
sugar, but r'aly it docs seem to me — that — we're 
havin' a powerful chance o' childern somehow or 
nother." 

I am digressing a little, but I cannot resume my 
subject without doing Mrs. Anvil the justice to say 
that she defended her dignity with becoming spir- 
it, and by a short but pungent syllogism taught 
Darby that he had more cause for self-condemna- 
tion than for grudgings or astonishment. 

Darby Anvil, though ignorant in the extreme, 
had some shrewdness and much low cunning. He 
knew well the prejudices and weaknesses of the 
common people of the country, and had no little 
tact in turning them to his own advantage. 

Two attorneys of eminence who had repeatedly 
served the State in her deliberative assemblies dur- 
ing and after the war were candidates for the pop- 
ular branch of the Legislature when Darby 
determined to make a third and supernumerary 
candidate. He announced his aims in the only 
way in which he could have announced them with- 
out exposing himself to overwhelming ridicule ; for 



214 y VDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

the people of those days pretty generally harbored 
the superstitious notion that talents were indispen- 
sable to wholesome legislation. 

There was a great barbecue in the county. It 
was the wager of a hunting watch, and conse- 
quently everybody was invited and everybody at- 
tended. During the festival, when Darby and ten 
or twelve of his own class were collected round the 
bottle, "Boys," said he, "how 'bout the 'lection 
this year? " 

" O," says one, "there's no opposition." 

"No opposition!" cried Darby, " by zounds, 
that'll never do. We'll have no fun. I'll be ding'd 
if I don't offer myself if I can't git a smarter man 
to offer, rather than have no fun at all. What do 
you say, Bill Rucker? Won't you go in for the 
old blacksmith ag'inst the lawyers?" smiling and 
winking to the bystanders. 

" O yes," said Bill carelessly, " I'll go in for you 
to a red heat." 

"Well, thar's one vote for the old blacksmith, 
anyhow." 

"Johnny, you'll stick to Uncle Darby ag'n the 
lawyers, I know; won't you, Johnny? " 

" Yes," said Johnny Fields, " I'll stick to you 
like grim death to a dead nigger." 

" Jimmy Johns '11 go — O no! I've no chance of 
Jimmy's vote: bein' as how he's a mighty takin' to 
lawyers since his brother Bob's case was tryn. 
How 'bout that, Jimmy?" with a dry. equivocal 

lau g h - 

"Blast their infernal souls!" said Jim, "I'd 
vote for the devil 'fore I'd vote for either of 'em. 



DARBT ANVIL. 215 

They made out my evidence was nothin' 't all but 
swearin' lies for brother Bob from one eend to 
tother." 

"Well, Jimmy," pursued Darby, "you mustn't 
mind Uncle Darby's laughin', my son, I can't help 
laughin' every time I think how mad you was when 
you come to my shop that day; but you know I told 
you you'd git over it and vote for the 'squires at 
last, didn't I?" 

" Yes, and you told a lie too ; didn't you, Uncle 
Darby?" 

Here Darby roared immoderately and then be- 
coming suddenly very grave, he proceeded: "But 
boys, puttin' all jokin' away, it's wrong, mighty 
wrong, for anybody to be puttin' upon anybody's 
character after that sort, I don't care who they is. 
And if I was in the Legislater the fust thing I'd 
do would be to stop it." 

"Well, Uncle Darby, why don't you offer?" 
said Johns, "I'll go for you, and there's plenty 
more'll go for you if you'll come out." 

"Yes, that there is," said Job Snatch (another 
sufferer in court), "I'll go for you." 

"And so will I," said Seth Weed. 

" Why, boys," interrupted Darby, " if you don't 
hush, you'll make me come out sure enough. And 
what would I do in the 'sembly? " 

"I'll tell you what you'd do," said Sam Flat 
crustily, " you'd set up in one corner of the room 
like poor folks at a frolic and never open your 
mouth. And I'll tell you another thing — my opin- 
ion is, you want to offer, too; and you're only 
fishin' for an excuse to do it now." 



2l6 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

Darby burst into a loud laugh ; but there was 
enough chagrin mingled with it to show plainly that 
he felt the truth of Sam's remark. It was near a 
minute before he could reply: " O no, Sammy, 
I've no notion of offerin', unless it mout be just to 
have a little fun. And if I was to offer what harm 
would it do? I couldn't be 'lected; and if I wasn't, 
I wouldn't care, for it wouldn't be no disgrace for 
a poor blacksmith to be beat by the great folks 
that's beat everybody." 

" Well," said Jimmy Johns, " may I say you's 
a cand'date? " 

"Jimmy, you is a free man and has a right to 
say what you please." 

"And I'm a free man, and Til say what I please 
too," said Job Snatch. 

"And so am I," said Seth Weed. 

"Why, what's got into these boys?" chuckled 
out Darby, " I b'lieve they're gwine to make me a 
a cand'date whether I will or no. I didn't know I 
had so much pop'larity. Let me git away from 
here or I'll be made a great man in spite of myself. 
But I must take a drink before I go. Come boys, 
le's take a drink, and I'll give you a toast: 

"Here's wishin' that honest men who's 'blige to go t<> court to 

swear 
Mav not tie 'lowed to he made game of hv lawyers of the 

hare." 

This sentiment, like many electioneering ha- 
rangues oi equal merit in the present day, was re- 
ceived "with unbounded applause;" and amidst 
laughter and entreaties for a repetition oi the toast 
Darb} hastened awa} to a small party oi marks- 



DARBT ANVIL. 21 7 

men who had made up a match and were trying 
their skill apart from the throng. To these he 
made himself obsequious, while his friends spread 
the news of his candidacy. It soon pervaded the 
whole assembly, and many went to him to know 
the truth of the report. His answers to such were 
regulated by the tone and manner with which they 
put their questions. If they exhibited no astonish- 
ment, he told them that " he had tried to git off, but 
his friends kept plaguin' him so to offer that he was 
'bliged to give up or make 'em all mad; and there- 
fore, he told 'em they mout do as they pleased." 
If the inquirer exhibited signs of wonder and in- 
credulity, Darby gave him an affirmative with all the 
tokens of irony. Amongst the rest came Smith and 
Jones, the two candidates. They happened to meet 
him just as he was returning to the crowd from the 
shooting-match and when no person was with him. 

" Darby," inquired Smith, " is it possible that 
you are a candidate for the Legislature?" 

" Why not? " returned Anvil, with a blush. 

" Why, you are utterly unqualified ; you will dis- 
grace yourself." 

"I know," rejoined Anvil, "that I'd make a 
mighty poor out of speakin' ag'in lawyers, but I 
reckon as how I could vote as good as them." 

"You are mistaken, Darby," said Jones; " it re- 
quires a better head to vote right than to speak 
well. The business of law-making is a very deli- 
cate business, which should be managed with the 
nicest care, especially in this country. It is true 
that it has been much simplified in the several 
States by our admirable form of government. A 



2l8 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

vast variety of subjects, and those too which the 
people at large are generally best acquainted with, 
have been withdrawn from the State Legislature. 
But still the States are sovereign, and possess all 
power not specially delegated to the general gov- 
ernment — " 

"You should have said," interrupted Smith, 
"that the State legislation has been diminished 
rather than that it has been simplified. In truth, 
it has been rendered more intricate by our novel 
form of government. In other countries the law- 
giver has only to study the interests of the people 
and legislate accordingly; but here, in addition to 
the ordinary duties of a legislator, he has others of 
infinite difficulty and infinite importance to dis- 
charge. He is one of the guardians of a State 
which is both sovereign and subject — sovereign by 
Constitution, subject by concession. He must con- 
sider well, therefore, the powers which she has 
ceded, and yield implicit obedience to them; he 
must study well the powers which she has reserved, 
and fearlessly maintain them . An error on the one 
hand is a step toward anarchy; an error on the 
other is a step toward slaver}- — " 

"Why," interrupted Darby, "I don't under- 
stand head nor tail of all this sarment." 

"I was not addressing myself to you," said 
Smith, "though 1 confess that what I was saying 
was meant for your improvement. I was in hopes 
you would understand enough of it to discover 
your unfitness for the Legislature." 

"I think," said Jones, "I can convince Darby 
of that in a more intelligent way." 



DARBY ANVIL. 219 

" Darby, what does a man go to the Legislature 
for?" 

"Why, to make laws," said Darby. 

" True ; and to amend such as have been made. 
Now, do you know what laws have been made?" 

"No." 

" Do you know how those have operated which 
have been made?" 

" Operated?" 

" I mean do you know whether they have proved 
good or bad? " 

"No, I tell you; I don't know nothin' 't all 
about 'em." 

" Well, now suppose a man should come to your 
shop and offer to work for you a month — at plow- 
making we will suppose — and when you asked him 
if he understood making such plows as are used in 
Georgia he should reply that he knew nothing at 
all about plows, his whole life had been spent in 
shoe-making; but that if you would lay two plows 
before him he could tell you which he thought best ; 
and that whenever you wanted his opinion or vote 
upon shop matters he could give it as good as any 
one. What would you think of him? " 

"Then, 'cordin' to your chat, nobody ought to 
go to 'sembly but lawyers," said Darby. 

" I do not say so; but that no one should go 
there who has not some little knowledge of the bus- 
iness which he has to do: If he possess this knowl- 
edge, it matters not whether he be lawyer, farmer, 
merchant, or mechanic." 

By this time quite a crowd, mostly unlettered 
persons, had collected round the candidates, and 



2 20 J EDGE L ONI , S TREE T. 

though it Was impossible for Darby to hide his 
chagrin while he and his companions were alone, 
it became less and less visible with every accession 
to the group, so that by the time Mr. Jones con- 
cluded his remarks it was entirely dissipated, and 
Darby stood before the company decidedly the 
most self-confident of the three. 

" Well," said he, planting himself astraddle and 
placing his arms akimbo, " now I've heard you all 
through, let me see how the old blacksmith can ar- 
gify -with two lawyers at a time. I know I'm noth- 
in' but a poor, ign'ant blacksmith that don't know 
nothin' nohow; and furthermore, I don't think 
nobody ought to go to the 'sembly but lawyers 
nether, bein' as how they're the smartest people in 
the world. But howsomedever, that's n'ither here 
nor thar. Now, Mr. Smith, you say I'd disgrace 
myself to go to the 'sembly, and I reckon it's so, 
for I'm like my neighbors here, hard-workin' peo- 
ple, who ha'n't got no business doin' nothin* but 
workin' for great folks and rich folks, nohow. 
But howsomedever, that's n'ither here nor thar. as 
the fellow said. Now, I want to ax you a low- 
questions, and you mus'n't git mad with me, for I 
only want to git a little Tarnm'. And firstly <>i the 
first place, to begin at the beginnin', as the fellow- 
said, an't a poor man as free as a rich man?" 
winking, with a smirk, to the approving by-stand- 
ers. 

"Certainly," said Smith. 

"And didn't tlic\ fighl tor libitv as well as rich 
ones." 
"Yes." 



DARBY ANVIL. 221 

"Well — hem! — an't they as honest as rich 
men? " 

"No doubt of it." 

"Well, if a poor man is as free as a rich man 
(now you mas 'n ^ t git mad with me), and they fit for 
libity as well as them, and is as honest, how comes 
it that some people that's the smartest in the world 
votes for nobody havin' votes but them that's got 
land?" Here several of the by-standers who had 
been interchanging winks and smiles in token that 
they foresaw the dilemma into which Darby was 
leading his antagonist, burst into a loud laugh. 

" Now, an't he the devil? " whispered one. 

" I tell you what it is," said a second, " the law- 
yers an't gwine to git nothin' out o' him." 

" Mighty smart man," said a third, gravely, 
" powerful smart for his opportunities." 

"I advocated freehold suffrage," returned 
Smith, " in the convention that framed the Consti- 
tution, not because I thought the rich man entitled 
to higher privileges than the poor man, but because 
I thought him less exposed to temptation. Indeed, 
my proposition made no distinction between the 
poor and the rich, for there is not a farmer in the 
State who has not more land than would have en- 
titled him to a vote under it. But I apprehend the 
time will come when our State will be inundated 
with strangers and sojourners amongst us — mere 
floating adventurers — who have no common inter- 
est, feeling, or sympathy with us, who will prosti- 
tute the right of suffrage to private gain, and set up 
their votes to the highest bidder. I would, there- 
fore, have confined this right to those who have a 



2 22 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

fixed and permanent interest in the State, who must 
share the honors or suffer the penalties of wise or 
corrupt legislation.*' 

"If Smith is to be blamed," said Jones, "for 
his course in the convention, so am I. I differed 
from him, to be sure, in measure , but agreed with 
him in -principle. I would have had a small -prop- 
erty qualification without confining it to land, but 
his answer to this was decisive. If the amount of 
property required were large^ it would disqualify 
many honest voters who are permanent residents 
of the State ; if it were small, every stranger who 
brought with him money enough to bear his trav- 
eling expenses would be qualified to vote. But we 
were both overruled." 

" Gentlemen," said Darby, "you talk too much 
dictionary for me; I wasn't raised to much book 
larnin' nor dictionary larnin' . But, howsomedever, 
I think, 'Squire Smith, you said anybody that 
didn't own land would sell their votes to the high- 
est bidder; and I reckon it's so, for you great 
folks knows more than me; but ' the proof of the 
puddin's in chawin' the bag,' as the fellow said, 
therefore let's see how the thing "11 work. Jimmy 
Johns, you don't own no land, and. therefore, 
'cordin' to the "Squire's narration, you'll sell your 
vote to the highest bidder. What' 11 you take for 
it?" 

"Nobody better not tell me," said Jim. "that 
I'll sell my vote, or I'll be dad seized if 1 don't 
fling a handful o' lingers right in his face in short 

})U'trlici\ I don't care who he is." 

11 I did not say," resumed Smith, " that any man 



DARBT ANVIL. 223 

now in the State would sell his vote, nor do I be- 
lieve that any true Georgian, by birth or adoption, 
ever will; but the time will come when idle, worth- 
less vagabonds will come amongst us, who will sell 
their votes for a pint of rum if they can get no 
more." 

" Well, 'Squire, now it seems to me — but I don't 
know, but it seems to me — somehow or 'nother 
that it'll be time enough to have land votin' when 
that time comes, and not to begin upon poor folks 
now to stop mean folks when we are all dead and 
gone. Them folks, I recken, can take care o' 
themselves." 

"Then it will be too late," interposed Jones. 
" Men who have a marketable article will never 
give it away, or allow it to be taken from them. 
Should they be willing to renounce it, there will be 
factious demagogues enough to prevent them from 
so doing. No, Darby, if you would establish a 
good government, you must do it at its organi- 
zation ; thenceforward there is a ceaseless war be- 
tween the governors and the governed. The rulers 
are ever usurping the rights of- the people, or the 
people are ever resuming the rights of the " — 

" Stop a little thar," interrupted Darby; "you 
say thar's a war 'tween the Governor and the gov- 
'ment. Now, what's the reason I never hearn of 
that war? I've hearn of the old French War and 
the Rev'lution War and the Injun War, but I never 
hearn of that war before." 

"I don't say," continued Jones, impatiently, 
" that there is a war, a fight " — 

" O, well, if you take that back, why we'll start 



224 JUDGE LONG STREET. 

ag'in. But, howsomedever, when I'm gwine to a 
place I always try to take the right road at first, 
and then thar's no 'casion for turnin' back." 

"Well, Darby," said Jones, "you are certainly 
a bigger fool than I took you to be, and that is not 
your worst fault." 

"Well, now, you see," said Darby (bristling), 
"that kind o' chat an't gwine to do for me, no- 
how; and you must take it back quick as you did 
the war, or I'll make the fur fly to the tother 
sorts." 

"Yes, I'll be dad seized if I didn't," said Jim- 
my Johns, becoming furious; " talkirfs talkin', 
but callin' a man XkizfooVs no sort of chat." 

"Uncle Darby," said John Fields, "you gwine 
to swallow that? If you do, you needn't count on 
John Fields's vote." 

" No, I'm not," countinued Darby, touching his 
coat. " Gentlemen, I didn't go to 'Squire Jones; 
he came to me and brought on the fuss, and I 
don't think I'm to blame. My charr/cter is as 
good to me as his'n to him; and, gentlemen, I'm a 
plain, hard-workin' man, but I'll be burned if I 
can bear every thing." 

" Strip yourself, Darby," said Snatch, flinging 
off his coat as if it were full of nettles, and p< Hir- 
ing forth a volley of oaths without order or con- 
nection; "strip yourself; you sha'n't be imposed 
on; I'll see you out." 

"O well, now," said John Reynolds (the bully 
of the county), coolly, "if thar's to be any fur 
flyin' here, 1 must have a little of the pullin' of it. 
And. Darby, you're not goin' to knock the 'Squire 



DARBV ANVIL. 225 

till you walk over me to do it. He's holpt my wife 
and children too often when they've been sick for 
me to stand by and see him imposed on, right or 
wrong; that's the racket." 

"Well, Johnny," said Darby (re-adjusting his 
coat), " I always liked the 'Squire myself, and al- 
ways voted for him — don't you know I did, John- 
ny? — but then you know yourself that it's mighty 
hard for a man to be called a fool to his face, now 
an't it, Johnny?" 

" Why, it's a thing that don't go down easy, I 
know, but then look at tother side a little. Now 
you made out the 'Squire eat his words about the 
war, and that's mighty hard to swallow too. Now 
he told you he didn't mean they fit, and you know 
anybody's liable to make mistakes anyhow ; and 
you kept makin' out that he had to back out from 
what he said, and " — 

"Yes, Darby," said Jimmy Johns, "that's a 
fact, Johnny's right. You brushed the 'Squire a 
little too close there, Darby, and I can't blame him 
for gittin' mad. I'll stick by you when you're on 
the right side, but I can't go with you there. I 
couldn't ha' stood it myself." 

" Yes, Darby," said Fields, " you must confess 
yourself that you begun it, and, therefore, you 
oughn't to got mad. That was wrong, Darby, 
and I can't go with you them lengths." 

" How was it? " said Snatch, as if he were not 
at the beginning of the affray. " How was it? " 

"Why," said Johns, "Darby made out the 
'Squire eat his words, and then the 'Squire called 
Darby a fool." 
15 



226 JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 

O, chuch!" said Snatch, "was that the way of 
it? Darby's wrong. If I'd o' knowed that, I 
wouldn't 'a' opened my mouth."' 

"Well," said Darby, "I believe I was wrong 
there, Johnny; and if my friends say so, I know 
I was. And, therefore, I am willin' to drop it. I 
always looked upon the 'Squire as a mighty good, 
kind-hearted man." 

"O yes!" exclaimed three or four at once, 
" drop it." 

" I was just waitin' to see a row," said Sam 
Flat (bully number two), "and I'd 'a' kept up all 
sorts o' rollin' and tumblin' over this barbecue 
ground before I'd 'a' seen the 'Squire hurt." 

" O, but Sammy," said Johns, Fields, and 
Snatch eagerly and in one voice, "its all over 
now. Drop it; we all see Darby was wrong." 

" O yes," said John White, reeling under a pint 
of rum, "drop it; it's all got — in a wrong — fix 
— by not knowin' — nothin' 'bout it. I heard it 
every bit. 'Squire did'nt say what Darby said — 
and Darby — didn't say what 'Squire said — and 
none of you didn't say what all of you said — and 
that's the way — you all got to quar'lin' an' iightin'. 
We're all friends — le's go 'n' take a drink — which 
whipped? " 

Before White concluded this very luminous ami 
satisfactory explanation the attorneys and their 
friends had retired, and Darby proceeded : " Gen- 
tlemen, when I fust talked 'bout bein' a cand'date, 
I had no notion o' bein* one. I jest said it in fun, 
as all the boys here knows. But now, you 
sence they go to puttin' on me alter this sort, I'll 



DARBY ANVIL. ' 227 

be blamed if I don't be a cand'date, even if I git 
beat. This is a free country, in which every man 
has a right to do as he pleases, and 'cordin' to their 
chat nobody ha'n't got no right to be cand'dates 
but lawyers. If that's the chat, I don't know what 
our Rev'lution was for, and I fit in it too. Gentle- 
men, you see how I've been persecuted." 

Darby's resolution was applauded by some, and 
his insulted dignity soothed by others. He now 
surrendered himself unreservedly to electioneering. 
His first object was to secure the favor of John 
Reynolds, for the bully of a county was then (as 
he still is, though lessened much in importance) a 
very desirable auxiliary in a canvass. This was 
easily effected by a little kindness and a little hy- 
pocrisy, and Darby wanted neither when his in- 
terest was at stake. He soon persuaded John that 
all he had said to Mr. Jones was a joke, or (what 
was the same thing to John) an error in Darby; 
and as the bully of the county is too much occu- 
pied in seeking glory to attend much to his trade 
or his farm, and is therefore constantly in need of 
some little assistance from his more industrious 
neighbors, Darby had opportunities enough of con- 
ciliating John by kind offices. These he improved 
so handsomely that John was soon won by grati- 
tude, and came out his open supporter. 

Marvelous was now the " change " which " came 
over the spirit of Darby's dream." His shop was 
committed to the entire management of Sambo and 
Cuffy, and his "little strangers" to Nancy. He 
rode night and day, attended every gathering in 
the county, treated liberally, aped dignity here, 



228 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

cracked obscene jokes there, sung vulgar songs in 
one place, talked gravely in another, told long, dry 
stories, gave short, mean toasts, jested with the 
women, and played with the children, grew liberal 
in suretyships, paid promptly, and dunned nobody, 
and asked everybody to vote for him. 

By these means Darby's popularity increased 
wonderfully. Three months lay between the bar- 
becue and the election, and before the expiration 
of the first the wise 'began to fear and the foolish to 
boast that Darby Anvil would be elected. Anoth- 
er month placed the matter beyond dispute, and 
left to either of the other candidates the alternative 
of making common cause with Darby or staying at 
home. The temptation was too strong for Smith's 
integrity. He formed a secret alliance with Dar- 
by. It was effected with great care and much 
cunning, but it was soon exposed by his conduct 
and its results. It was the first instance of such 
self-abasement that I ever witnessed in Georgia 
(would that it had been the last!), and it was re- 
ceived with becoming indignation by the virtuous 
and intelligent of the country. They took the field . 
almost to a man, in behalf of Jones, and but for his 
magnanimity they would have succeeded at last in 
giving Smith the just reward of his treachery. But 
Jones implored them by their regard for the future 
welfare of the State to level all their forces against 
Anvil and not against Smith. "If Smith," said 
he, "is returned to the Legislature, he will serve you 
with profit, if not with honor; but if Darby be 
elected, he will be worthless as a member and ruin- 
ous as an example. Encouraged by his succesSj 



DARB T AN VIL . 229 

hundreds of stupid asses like himself will make their 
way into the General Assembly; and the conse- 
quences will be that our government will become 
a despotism of fools and a disgrace to republican- 
ism." By these and many other more forcible ar- 
guments, which I have not time to repeat, Jones 
prevailed upon his friends to sacrifice their private 
prejudices to the public good, and to bend all their 
exertions to the exclusion of Anvil. They did so, 
and for a time wonderful were the effects of their 
efforts. So commanding was their position that 
even the common people were attracted by it, and 
many came over to them from the ranks of the 
coalition. Smith was cowed by the noble bearing 
of his old friend toward him, and remorse greatly 
paralyzed his exertions. Darby too grew so much 
alarmed that he became serious, and by as much 
as he grew serious by so much did he lose his in- 
fluence. In short, there is every reason to believe 
that after all Darby would have been beaten had 
not a little incident occurred which secured his 
election in spite of opposition. It was a strange 
incident to be followed by such an effect. There 
is an old Scotch song which says: 

Be a lassie e'er so black 

An she hae the name o' siller, 

Set her upo' Tintock top, 

The wind will blaw a man till her. 

The winds are not more propitious to the siller' 'd 
lassie than unpropitious to the candidate. If ever 
he has committed a fault, no matter when or where, 
the wind will blow a babbler to him. It was so 
with Darby, though unfortunate only in a moral, 
not in a political sense. 



230 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

About three weeks before the election a traveler 
stopped at a public house in the county where sev- 
eral persons had collected, and amongst the rest was 
Your Uncle Nicky Bugg. This was a title which 
he assumed himself and which was accorded to him 
by universal consent. The company were all sup- 
porters of Jones, and their conversation turning 
upon the approaching election, they denounced 
Darby Anvil in unmeasured terms. The stranger, 
probably emboldened by their sentiments, after 
putting a few questions as to Darby's personal 
identity, stated that Darby had left Virginia between 
two days in order to avoid a prosecution for perju- 
ry. The stranger said he was not himself person- 
ally acquainted with the facts, but referred to a 
number of persons in Virginia who would confirm 
his statement by certificates. The certificates were 
immediately written for, and to make their effect the 
more decisive it was resolved by the company that 
they would not whisper the important discovery until 
the certificates arrived. Fortunately for Darin', they 
did not arrive until the evening before the election. 

At an early hour of the succeeding day Darby 
made his appearance at the court-house at the head 
of about thirty men, some in wagons, some on 
horseback (single and double), and some on foot. 
They all had their tickets in their hats, with the 
names of Smith and Anvil written on them in large 
characters. As they proceeded to the polls they 
made the village ring with shouts of "Hurrah for 
Smith!" "Hurrah for Anvil!" "Hurrah for the 
blacksmith and the people's candidate!" Darby 
had provided a table and a dozen bottles of rum, to 



DARBT ANVIL. 23 1 

which he led his friends and told them to drink 
freely and vote boldly. He was reminded that if 
he should be elected he would have to swear that 
he had not gained his election by treating, can- 
vassing, etc., to which he replied that he "could 
swaller that oath mighty easy, for he reckoned no- 
body wa'n't so mean as to vote for him just because 
he treated 'em." 

Owing to some misunderstanding of the magis- 
trates who were to preside at the election, or 
from some other cause unknown, the polls were not 
opened until an hour or two after the usual time. 
The delay was extremely annoying to Darby; for 
in the interim his friends paid such profound re- 
spect to his first injunction above mentioned that 
several of them were fast becoming hors de suf- 
frage, if I may be allowed the expression. At 
ength came the magistrates, however; and no 
sooner had they entered the court-yard, where 
was collected an immense throng, than "Your Un- 
cle Nicky" took the topmost step at the door of the 
court-house, and demanded the attention of every 
gentleman present. The demand had to be re- 
peated several times before it was heeded, but it 
finally succeeded in gathering around him every 
voter on the campus. They were soon reduced 
to silence, and Bugg commenced reading, in a 
slow and audible voice, the cruel certificates. In 
the meantime Darby, as one very truly observed, 
" looked powerful bad." He stared like an owl at 
noonday, and trembled like the shoe of a grist- 
mill. He changed feet as rapidly as if he had 
been upon hot embers; and as for his hands, suf- 



lei 



232 JUDGE LO&GSTREET. 

fered them to do as they pleased, and they pleased 
to go through evolutions that no pen can describe. 
I can only say of them that they seemed to be in 
frantic search for the mind that had deserted 
them, for they wandered all over his body and all 
through his apparel, giving occasional hints to the 
materialists that the mind may at last be seated 
where none of them have ever yet placed it. To 
add, if possible, to Darby's embarrassment, " Your 
Uncle Nicky" was one of those men to whom a 
fight was an accommodation. Darby could not, 
therefore, with safety, resort to the usual expe- 
dient in such cases: a quarrel with the author of 
his mortification. He received a consolation, how- 
ever, the most grateful that could have been of- 
fered to his tortured feelings, even before Bugg 
had disposed of the certificates. It was from the 
cry of "Persecution!" which issued from a num- 
ber of voices, accompanied by other consolatory 
expressions, which increased as soon as Bugg had 
concluded. 

"It's too bad!" exclaimed one, "to attack a 
man so right on the 'lection day to his face, when 
he ha'n't got no chance o' defendin' himself." 

"Ah, well, now," said a second, " if they go to 
takin' these in-turns on a fellow they an't gwine 
to git no good of it, and you'll see it. The clean 
thing's the clean thing, but this whopping a fel- 
low up all at once when he's no chance is no sort 
o' doin's." 

" Walk, ticket!" exclaimed a third (tearing up 
a ticket on which was Joneses name), ami come 
over to the old blacksmith; into my hand jlittcr! 



DARBT ANVIL. 233 

Fair play's a jewel, and that's what I go lor in 
'lectioneering as well as every thing else." 

"Never mind, Darby," added a fourth, "you 
an't dead yet if you are down and kickin'. 
There's enough here'll stand by you yet. Keep 
a stiff upper lip, and you'll come through yet." 

"I swear," added a fifth, "it's too bad! It's 
enough to hurt any man's feelin's to be so put 
upon unbeknozvens.'" 

These, and many other expressions of a like 
kind, so far restored Darby's equanimity that he 
was able to take the step in his defense as soon as 
Bugg descended from it. When he mounted the 
rostrum, his appearance was quite unparliamentary. 
He was dressed in a full suit of mud-colored home- 
spun, the workmanship of Nancy's own hands 
from the carding to the weaving. His pantaloons 
were supported only by his hips, for suspenders 
were not then worn ; and even with this advantage 
at the one extremity, they were full five inches too 
short at the other. They reached his socks only 
when he stood firm on both legs — that is, when 
they were suffered to hang in a right line — but as 
Darby rarely used both limbs at the same time, 
there was an alternate flashing of naked skin from 
either limb of the most agreeable and bewitching 
novelty. His vest was more uncourteous to his 
pantaloons than were his socks, for no position of 
Darby's body could induce it to come within an 
inch of them. His under garment, however, act- 
ed as a mediator between them, and gracefully 
rolled out into the vacant space, seemingly to en- 
circle the orator with a sash of coarse but clean, 



234 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

white sausage. Darby wore no cravat; and from 
accident or design (the former, I suppose), his 
shirt-collar was thrown entirely open, leaving ex- 
posed a most unsightly A dam 's apple, that gave to 
his neck the appearance of a little dromedary. 
Upon his coat Nancy had obviously "spread her- 
self" as we say in Georgia. She seemed to have 
taken the pattern of it from the wings of a horse- 
fly. From a point about seven inches above the 
os coxygis, it debouched to the right and the left, 
with daring encroachments upon his calves. Two 
large plano-convex covered buttons marked the 
salient points of the skirts, and as many (on either 
skirt, one) their nether limits. The molds of these 
gorgeous ornaments were cut, by the measure of 
a half-dollar, from a dried gourd ; of course, there- 
fore, it was in the covering that they took the shape 
which I have given to them. Five buttons more 
(cjusdem generis) stood in open order upon each 
lapel; and from every button advanced, in marvel- 
ous length, a button-hole worked with " indigo 
blue," so that they looked like two little detach- 
ments of artillery drawn up in battle array against 
each other. Coarse, sharp-pointed shoes and a 
low-crowned, broad-brimmed white hat completed 
the costume of the first orator that I ever had the 
pleasure of hearing address the electors of a coun- 
ty in Georgia. Indeed, lie was the last also: tor, 
though it is not now an unusual thing for candi- 
dates "to respond in strains of glowing elo- 
quence" (see gazettes, passim) at dinner parties 
and barbecues, it is a very rare tiling for them to 
address " the sovereignty " when assembled to ex- 



DARBT ANVIL. 235 

ercise the elective franchise. But Darby had no 
alternative. The greetings which he met with 
from the crowd when he ascended the tribune 
were such as would have confounded any one who 
did not understand the spirit with which they were 
uttered. Strange as it may seem to the reader, 
they were meant for encouragement, and were so 
understood by Darby. 

"Hey, Darb!" vociferated one, "you're too 
strong for your runners; you've pushed your legs 
too far through your breeches." 

"Never mind that, Darby," cried another. 
" Tuck in your shirt-tail, and novate away the 
best ypu can; we'll see you out." 

"Why, Darby," cried the third, "what makes 
you swaller s.o? Stand up to your fodder like a 
man. You've got plenty of friends here yet." 

"Why, gentlemen," proceeded Darby, "its 
enough to make anybody swaller and feel bad too 
to be put upon after this sorts, all ujibeknowens, 
when he ha'n't got no chance o' defendin' himself — 
no manner o'chance. Gentlemen, I fit in the revo- 
lution ; and if I'm now to lose my charrzcter because 
I'm took all unawar's, I shall think it the hardest 
case I ever hearn of in all my born days. Gentle- 
men, my character's as much to me and any hard- 
workin' man as any man's charrz'cter is to him, if 
he's a lawyer, or a doctor, or a store-keeper, or I 
don't care what he is. For what's a man worth 
that an't got no character? He's like a pair o' 
bellowses that ha'n't got no nose, or a saw that 
ha'n't got no handle: they an't no manner o' 
count; you can't use 'em at all. ['That's the 



236 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

truth, Darby,' interposed a voice gravely.] Gen- 
tlemen, I've lived a long time with )"ou: did any 
of you ever hear of my usin' perj'ry? I reckon if 
I had time I could git ce'tif'cates too, but you all 
see I an't got no time at all. Gentlemen, I don't 
think I ever seed any one that was so persecuted 
in all my born days; and if I'm beat now, I shall 
think I'm beat by persecution. And there's my 
wife and ten children, and they must all lose their 
charr/cters, too, just by bein' taken unawar's. I 
never knowed nobody to git nothin' by- persecu- 
tion; but if me and my wife and children's all to 
lose our charr/cters by it, why I s'pose it must be 
so, but I shall think it mighty hard. Gentlemen, 
you can do as you please with me; and whatever 
you do, I can't help it." 

The cry of " Hurrah for Anvil! " from many 
voices as Darby descended from the steps plainly 
testified that he had the sympathies and support of 
the majority. In vain did Jones and his friends 
reason with them upon the difference between ex- 
posing vice and persecuting innocence. It was in 
vain that they argued against the injustice of visit- 
ing Bugg's fault (if fault it was) upon the head of 
his friend Jones. The time and the severityof the 
attack were sufficient to change Darby into an ob- 
ject of persecution in their eyes. To make matters 
worse, if possible, for Jones, " Your Uncle Nicky " 
undertook to reason with the malcontents. This 
was a very unfortunate step, for though he was 
fully competent to reason, and reason well, with 
reasonable beings, he was the last man on earth 
who, in this way, should have undertaken to re- 



DARBT ANVIL. 237 

claim those who were won to Darby's support by 
what we have seen. He was easily excited and ut- 
terly intolerant of folly. Irritable as he was, how- 
ever, he rarely gave signs of anger either in voice 
or countenance. So far from it his composure was 
always greatest when just at the fighting point. 

The first that "Your Uncle Nicky" undertook 
to correct was Jimmy Johns, who had pretended to 
have a great friendship for him for reasons to be 
found in Jimmy's deportment toward John Rey- 
nolds. 

" Jimmy," said Bugg, " you surely are not going 
to vote for that fool, Darby Anvil." 

"Yes, I is," said Jimmy; "and the more and 
the better of it is, I mean to give him a plumper, 
too." 

"What! to such a despicable character?" 

" Yes; despical or no despical character, I can't 
go ag'in a persecuted man with a wife and ten 
childern — Miss Anvil is — " 

"But it's no persecution to tell the truth on a 
man, especially when the truth goes to show that 
he is unfit for an office to which he is aspiring. 
Your way of reasoning will make rascality a pass- 
port to office." 

" O, I don't blame you, Uncle Nicky, I know 
what you did was for the best, but now you'll con- 
fess yourself — now won't you, Uncle Nicky? — that 
if he was 'spirin' and passport, you oughtn't to 
come down on him as you did, right at the 'lection. 
That was rubbin' him too hard, now wa'n'tit, Un- 
cle Nicky? 'Twas enough to make anybody feel 
sorry for him ; and Miss Anvil — ' ' 



238 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" What difference does it make when or wnere 
you expose a villain? And what has Miss Anvil 
to do with it? Is she a candidate?" 

"No, but she's a mighty good 'oman; and you 
know yourself, Uncle Nicky, she an't to blame. 
And wouldn't it be wrong to hurt her char/'/cter? 
Now I leave it to yourself, Uncle Nicky. Jist 
take it to yourself — s'pose you'd been guilty o' 
parj'ry, and Miss Bugg — " 

" Stop a little, Jimmy," said Bugg verv calmly, 
" until ' Your Uncle Nick)' ' tries another argument 
better suited to your capacity, and which I think 
will brighten your ideas." So saying, he "fetched 
Jimmy a sentimental jolt" (as one afterward de- 
scribed it) in the bur of the ear that laid him out 
in short order. 

Jimmy "holl'd" in time to arrest Uncle Nicky's 
experimental philosophy at the first blow and the 
second kick. He would have fought longer with 
another man, but with Uncle Nicky he knew that 
the longer he fought the worse he would be flogged : 
so he acted wisely for once at least. 

In this way did "Your Uncle Nicky "• proceed 
to dispense light amongst the -plebs until he raised 
a battle-royal in the court-yard. At one time lob- 
served not less than eight couples who were en- 
gaged in interchanging Uncle Nicky's ethics. 

The day rolled away, and at ten o'clock at night 
the state of the polls was announced. Darin - and 
Smith were elected. They were both hoisted and 
borne about on the shoulders of their friends with 
huzzas of triumph. They then invited all who lin- 
gered about the COUrt-vard at that late hour to a 



DARBT ANVIL. 239 

supper at one of the public houses of the village. 
Here they ate, drank, sung vulgar songs, and told 
more vulgar stories until about one o'clock, when 
they, or some of them, sallied forth and with drum 
and fife and yells drove sleep from the village un- 
til the dawn. 

An inveterate hostility between Smith and Jones 
followed this election, the traces of which may be 
seen in their descendants to this day. Darby was 
elected again and again ; and though he did noth- 
ing in the Legislature but vote as Smith voted, and 
drink grog in the recess of the sessions, he always 
returned to his constituents with wonderful stories 
of what "we did and what we tried to do." 

In the meantime, things about home began to 
run rapidly to decay. Sambo and Cuffy worked 
up immense quantities of iron, for they both worked 
a great deal harder, as they said themselves, when 
" massa" was away than when he was there, " jist 
dat white folks might see dat nigger didn't want no 
watchin', and dat massa might know how to trust 
'em." But then they had little or nothing to show 
for it. A number of good customers deserted the 
shop ; some from political hostility to the owner, 
and others because Sambo and Cuffy were always 
too busy to attend to them. Mrs. Anvil grew dis- 
satisfied with politics as soon as Darby returned 
the first time from the Legislature with no money 
in his pockets, for she had taken up the idea that 
all who stepped into the Assembly stepped into a 
fortune. She therefore advised Darby to " quit it 
as not bein' the thing it was cracked up to be," 
and to " come home and mind his own business." 



24O JUDGE LOXGSTREET. 

But Darby had become too much enamored of the 
public service to take her counsel. He told her it 
would never do in the world for him to take his 
name down — his -party would never forgive him. 
This logic was unsatisfactory to Nancy at first, and 
it became still more so as troubles thickened about 
the house. She therefore became crusty, petulant, 
and boisterous by turns, greatly to the disturbance 
of Darby's domestic peace and tranquillity. He 
had anticipated this emergency, and took to drink 
privately beforehand; but he now began to come 
home drunk out of spite, and Nancy gave him spite 
for spite. Still, however, wife-like, she struggled 
hard to keep things together and to save her fam- 
ily from ruin ; and her increased industry and 
economy would probably have balanced Darby's 
waste from drink and kept a support in hand until 
he burned out, but alas ! tickets began to pour in 
upon them by the peck from the courts of con- 
science and other more unconscionable courts, in- 
viting Darby to appear here and appear there to 
answer for countless debts of his constituents. 
Then came the officers of justice and reduced them 
to beggary. A little before matters reached this 
crisis Darby was beaten for the Legislature, and it 
distressed him beyond measure. The friends for 
whom he had done the-mostwere the first to desert 
him, alleging as a reason his want of qualification, 
and their thorough conviction, after three years' 
reflection, that the Virginia certificates were true. 
Tims ended Darby's nomothetic career, hut here 
ended not the consequences of it. Encouraged by 

his success, worthless candidates sprung up in ev- 



DARBY ANVIL. 24 1 

ery county. If their presumption was rebuked, 
they silenced the reprover and repressed their own 
shame with " I know that I am better qualified than 
Darby Anvil." Under this plea and by such arti- 
fices as Anvil had used, they made their way to the 
councils of the State, where they became the worthy 
progenitors of a series of acts extending through 
many years, which for extravagance and folly have 
no parallel in the codes of enlightened nations. 
The penalties of these acts are now upon our heads, 
and upon our children's children will they descend 
with unmitigated rigor. I forbear to follow the 
consequences further — in charity to my native land 
I forbear. And yet I am not so sure but that such 
charity is treason to the State and allegiance to her 
most deadly foes. Presumptuous ignorance should 
be reprimanded with a fearless tongue, its sins 
should be proclaimed abroad in warning to the peo- 
ple, and all good men should unite their efforts to 
redeem the State entirely from its dominion. But 
I leave these offices to be performed by persons of 
more skill and influence than Baldwin. 

1G 



NED BRACE. 



There are some yet living who knew the man 
whose character I am about to delineate, and 
these will unanimously bear testimony that if it be 
not faithfully drawn it is not overdrawn. They 
cannot avouch for the truth of the anecdotes which 
I am about to relate of him, because of these they 
know nothing; but they will unhesitatingly declare 
that there is nothing herein ascribed to him of 
which he was incapable, and of which he would 
not readily have been the author, supposing the 
scenes in which I have placed him to be real, and 
the thoughts and actions attributed to him to have 
actually suggested themselves to him. They will 
further testify that the thoughts and actions are in 
perfect harmony with his general character. 

I do not feel at liberty as yet to give the name of 
the person in question, and therefore he shall be 
designated for the present by the appellation of Ned 
Brace. 

This man seemed to live only to amuse himself 
with his fellow-beings: and he possessed the rare 
faculty of deriving some gratification of his favorite 
propensity from almost every person whom he met, 
no matter what his temper, standing, or disposi- 
tion. Of course he had opportunities enough of 
exercising his uncommon gilt, and he rarely suf- 
fered an opportunity to pass unimproved. The 
(242) 



NED BRACE. 243 

beau in the presence of his mistress, the fop, the 
pedant, the purse-proud, the over-fastidious, and 
sensitive were Ned's favorite game. These never 
passed him uninjured, and against such he directed 
his severest shafts. With these he commonly 
amused himself by exciting in them every variety 
of emotion under circumstances peculiarly ridicu- 
lous. He was admirably fitted to his vocation. He 
could assume any character which his humor re- 
quired him to personate, and he could sustain it to 
perfection. His knowledge of the character of 
others seemed to be intuitive. 

It may seem remarkable, but it is true, that 
though he lived his own peculiar life for about six- 
teen years, after he reached the age of manhood 
he never involved himself in a personal rencounter 
with anyone. This was owing in part to his mus- 
cular frame, which few would be willing to engage ; 
but more particularly to his adroitness in the man- 
agement of his projects of fun. He generally con- 
ducted them in such a way as to render it impossible 
for any one to call him to account without violating 
all the rules of decency, politeness, and chivalry at 
once. But a few anecdotes of him will give the 
reader a much better idea of his character than he 
can possibly derive from a general description. If 
these fulfill the description which I have given of 
my hero, all will agree that he is no imaginary being; 
if they do not, it will only be because I am unfortu- 
nate in my selection. Having known him from his 
earliest manhood to his grave — for he was a native 
Georgian — I confess that I am greatly perplexed in 
determining what portions of his singular history to 



244 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

lay before the reader as a proper specimen of the 
whole. A three days' visit which I once made 
with him to Savannah placed him in a greater va- 
riety of scenes and among a greater diversity of 
characters than perhaps any other period of his 
life embracing no longer time; and, therefore, I 
will choose this for my purpose. 

We reached Savannah just at night-fall of a cold 
December evening. As we approached the tavern 
of Mr. Blank, at which we designed to stop, Ned 
proposed to me that we should drop our acquaint- 
ance until he should choose to renew it. To this 
proposition I most cordially assented, for I knew 
that so doing I should be saved some mortifications 
and avoid a thousand questions which I would not 
know how to answer. According to this under- 
standing Ned lingered behind, in order that I might 
reach the tavern alone. 

On alighting at the public-house I was led into a 
large dining-room at the entrance of which, to the 
right, stood the bar, opening into the dining-room. 
On the left, and rather nearer to the center of the 
room, was a fire-place surrounded by gentlemen. 
Upon entering the room my name was demanded 
at the bar; it was given, and I took mv seat in the 
circle around the fire. I had been seated just long 
enough for the company to survey me to their sat- 
isfaction and resume their conversation when Ned's 
heavy footstep at the door turned the eves of the 
company to the approaching stranger. 

"Your name, sir, if you please?" said the rest- 
less little bar-keeper, as he entered. 

Ned stared at the question with apparent alarm. 



NED BRACE, 245 

cast a fearful glance at the company, frowned and 
shook his head in token of caution to the bar-keep- 
er, looked confused for a moment, then, as if sud- 
denly recollecting himself, jerked a piece of paper 
out of his pocket, turned from the company, wrote 
on it with his pencil, handed it to the bar-keeper, 
walked to the left of the fire-place and took the 
most conspicuous seat in the circle. He looked 
at no one, spoke to no one ; but, fixing his eyes on 
the fire, lapsed into a profound reverie. 

The conversation, which had been pretty gener- 
al before, stopped as short as if every man in the 
room had been shot dead. Every eye was fixed 
on Ned, and every variety of expression was to be 
seen on the countenances of the persons present. 
The landlord came in ; the bar-keeper whispered to 
him and looked at Ned. The landlord looked at 
him too with astonishment and alarm ; the bar- 
keeper produced a piece of paper, and both of them 
examined it as if searching for a fig-mite with the 
naked eye. They rose from the examination un- 
satisfied, and looked at Ned again. Those of the 
company who recovered first from their astonish- 
ment tried to revive the conversation ; but the effort 
was awkward, met with no support, and failed. 
The bar-keeper, for the first time in his life, became 
dignified and solemn, and left the bar to take care 
of itself. The landlord had a world of foolish 
questions to ask the gentlemen directly opposite to 
Ned, for which purpose he passed round to them 
every two minutes, and the answer to none did he 
hear. 

Three or four boarders coming in who were un- 



246 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

apprised of what had happened at length revived 
the conversation, not, however, until they had cre- 
ated some confusion by inquiring of their friends 
the cause of their sober looks. As soon as the con- 
versation began to become easy and natural, Ned 
rose and walked out into the entry. With the first 
movement all were as hush as death ; but when he 
had cleared the door, another Babel scene ensued. 
Some inquired, others suspected, and all wondered. 
Some were engaged in telling the strangers what 
had happened, others were making toward the bar, 
and all were becoming clamorous when Ned re- 
turned and took his seat. I lis re-entry was as fa- 
tal to conversation as was the first movement of his 
exit; but it soon recovered from the shock, with 
the difference, however, that those who led before 
were now mute and wholly absorbed in the con- 
templation of Ned's person. 

After retaining his seat for about ten minutes. 
Ned rose again, inquired the way to the stable, and 
left the house. As soon as he passed the outer 
door, the bar-keeper hastened to the company with 
Ned's paper in his hand. " Gentlemen.** said he, 
" can any of you tell me what name this is?" All 
rushed to the paper in an instant; one or two pair 
of heads met over it with considerable force. 
After pondering over it to their hearts* content, they 
all agreed that the first letter was an " E," and the 
second a "IV or an "R," and the devil himself 
could not make out the balance. While they were 
thus engaged, to the astonishment of everybody, 
Ned interrupted their deliberations \\ ith : " ( rentle- 
men, if you have satisfied yourselves with that pa- 



NED BRACE. 247 

per, I'll thank you for it." It is easy to imagine, 
but impossible to describe, the looks and actions of 
the company under their surprise and mortification. 
They dropped off and left the bar-keeper to his ap- 
propriate duty of handing the paper to Ned. He 
reached it forth, but Ned moved not a hand to re- 
ceive it for about the space of three seconds, dur- 
ing which time he kept his eyes fixed upon the 
arch offender in awfully solemn rebuke. He then 
took it gravely and put it in his pocket and left the 
bar-keeper with a shaking ague upon him. From 
this moment he became Ned's most obsequious and 
willing slave. 

Supper was announced; Mrs. Blank, the land- 
lady, took the head of the table, and Ned seated 
himself next to her. Her looks denoted some alarm 
at finding him so near to her, and plainly showed 
that he had been fully described to her by her hus- 
band or some one else. 

" Will you take tea or coffee, sir? " said she. 

"Why, madam," said Ned, in a tone as court- 
eous as Chesterfield himself could have used, " I 
am really ashamed to acknowledge and expose my 
very singular appetite; but habitual indulgence of 
it has made it necessary to my comfort, if not my 
health, that I should still favor it when I can. If 
you will pardon me, I will take both at the same 
time." 

This respectful reply (which, by the way, she 
alone was permitted to hear) had its natural effect. 
It won for him her unqualified indulgence, raised 
doubts whether he could be the suspicious character 
which had been described to her, and begat in her a 



248 JUDGE EOX(, STREET. 

desire to cultivate a further acquaintance with him. 
She handed him the two cups and accompanied 
them with some remarks drawn from her own ob- 
servation in the line of her business calculated to 
reconcile him to his whimsical appetite, but she 
could extract from Ned nothing but monosyllables, 
and sometimes not even that much. Consequent- 
ly, the good lady began very soon to relapse into 
her former feelings. 

Ned placed a cup on either side of him and com- 
menced stirring both at the same time very delib- 
erately. This done, he sipped a little tea and asked 
Mrs. B. for a drop more milk in it. Then he 
tasted his coffee and desired a little more sugar in 
it. Then he tasted his tea again and requested a 
small lump more sugar in it. Lastly, he tasted his 
coffee, and desired a few drops more milk in that. 
It was eas} r to discover that before he got suited 
the landlady had solemnly resolved never to offer 
any more encouragements to such an appetite. 
She waxed exceedingly petulant; and having noth- 
ing else to scold, she scolded the servants of course. 

Waffles were handed to Ned, and he took one; 
batter-cakes were handed, and he took one; and 
so on of muffins, rolls, and corn-bread. Having 
laid in these provisions, he turned into his plate. 
upon his waffle antl batter-cake, some of the 
crumbs of the several kinds of bread which he had 
taken, in different proportions, and commenced 
mashing all together with his knife. During this 
operation the landlady frowned and pouted, the 
servants giggled, and the boarders were variously 
affected. 



NED BRACE. 249 

Having reduced his mess to the consistency of a 
hard poultice, he packed it all up to one side of his 
plate in the form of a terrapin and smoothed it all 
over nicely with his knife. Nearly opposite to Ned 
but a little below him, sat a waspish little gentle- 
man who had been watching him with increasing 
torments from the first to the last movement of 
Ned's knife. His tortures were visible to blinder 
eyes than Ned's, and doubtless had been seen by 
him in their earliest paroxysms. This gentleman 
occupied a seat nearest to a dish of steak, and was 
in the act of muttering something about " brutes" 
to his next neighbor, when Ned beckoned a serv- 
ant to him and requested him " to ask that gentle- 
man for a small bit of steak." The servant obeyed, 
and, planting Ned's plate directly between the gen- 
tleman's and the steak-dish, delivered his message. 
The testy gentleman turned his head, and the first 
thing he saw was Ned's parti-colored terrapin right 
under his nose. He started as if he had been 
struck by a snapping-turtle ; reddened to scarlet ; 
looked at Ned (who appeared as innocent as a 
lamb); looked at the servant (who appeared as 
innocent as Ned) ; and then fell to work on the 
steak as if he were amputating all Ned's limbs at 
once. 

Ned now commenced his repast. He ate his 
meat and breads in the usual way, but he drank his 
liquids in all ways. First a sip of tea, then of cof- 
fee; then two of the first and one of the last; then 
three of the last and one of the first, and so on. 

His steak was soon consumed, and his plate was 
a second time returned to the mettlesome gentle-, 



250 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

man " for another very small bit of steak." The 
plate paid its second visit precisely as it had its 
first, and as soon as the fiery gentleman saw the 
half-demolished terrapin again under his nose he 
seized a fork, drove it into the largest slice of steak 
in the dish, dashed it into Ned's plate, rose from 
the table, and left the room, cursing Ned from the 
very inmost chamber of his soul. Every person 
at the table, except Ned, laughed outright at the 
little man's fury; but Ned did not even smile ; nay, 
he looked for all the world as if he thought the laugh 
was at him. 

The boarders one after another retired, until 
Ned and the landlady were left alone at the table. 

" Will }^ou have another cup of tea and coffee, 
sir?" said she, by the way of convincing him that 
he ought to retire, seeing that he had finished his 
supper. 

" No, I thank you, madam," returned Ned. 

" Will you have a glass of milk, and a cup of tea 
or coffee, or all three together?" 

"No, ma'am," said Ned. "I am not blind, 
madam," continued he, "to the effects which my 
unfortunate eccentricities have produced upon 
yourself and your company; nor have I witnessed 
them without those feelings which they are well 
calculated to inspire in a man of ordinary sensibil- 
ities. I am aware, too, that 1 am prolonging and 
aggravating your uneasiness by detaining you be- 
yond the hour which demands your presence at the 
table; but I could not permit you to retire without 
again bespeaking your indulgence <>l the strange, 
unnatural appetite which has just caused you so 



NED BRACE. 25 1 

much astonishment and mortification. The story 
of its beginning might be interesting and certainly 
would be instructing to you if you are a mother; 
but I am indisposed at this time to obtrude it upon 
your patience, and I presume you are still less dis- 
posed to hear it. My principal object, however, 
in claiming your attention for a moment at this 
time is to assure you that out of respect to your 
feelings I will surrender the enjoyment of my meals 
for the few days -that I have to remain in Savannah, 
and conform to the customs of your table. The 
sudden change of my habits will expose me to some 
inconvenience, and may perhaps affect my health ; 
but I will willingly incur these hazards rather than 
renew your mortification or impose upon your 
family the trouble of giving me my meals at my 
room." 

The good lady, whose bitter feelings had given 
place to the kinder emotions of pity and benevo- 
lence before Ned had half concluded his apology 
(for it was delivered in a tone of the most melting 
eloquence), caught at this last hint, and insisted 
upon sending his meals to his room. Ned reluc- 
tantly consented, after extorting a pledge from her 
that she would assume the responsibilities of the 
trouble that he was about to give the family. 

"As to your boarders, madam," said Ned, in 
conclusion, " I have no apology to make to them. 
I grant them the privilege of eating what they 
please and as they please ; but, so far as they are 
concerned, I shall exercise the same privileges, 
reckless of their feelings or opinions; and I shall 
take it as a singular favor if you will say nothing 



252 J CD GE L ONGS TREE T. 

to them or to any one else which may lead them to 
the discovery that I am acquainted with my own 
peculiarities." 

The good lady promised obedience to his wishes, 
and Ned, requesting to be conducted to his room, 
retired. 

A group of gentlemen at the fire-place had sent 
many significant " hems " and smiles at Mrs. Blank 
during her teic-a-tcte with Ned, and as she ap- 
proached them on her way out of the room they 
began to taunt her playfully upon the impression 
which she seemed to have made upon the remark- 
able stranger. 

" Really," said one, " I thought the impression 
was on the other side." 

"And, in truth, so it was," said Mrs. B. At this 
moment her husband stepped in. 

" I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Blank," said one of 
the company, "you'd better keep a sharp lookout 
on that stranger; our landlady is wonderfully taken 
with him." 

"I'll, be bound," said Mr. B., "for my wife: 
the less like anybody else in the world he is, the 
better will she like him/* 

"Well, I assure you," said Mrs. B., "I never 
had my feelings so deeply interested in a stranger, 
in my life. I'd give the world to know his his- 
tory." 

" Whv, then," rejoined the landlord, "I sup- 
pose he has hem quizzing us all this time." 

"No," said she. "he is incapable oi quizzing. 
All that you have seen oi him 1- unaffected, and 
perfectly natural to him.*' 



NED BRACE. 253 

"Then, really," continued the husband, "he is 
a very interesting object, and I congratulate you 
upon getting so early into his confidence; but, as 
I am not quite as much captivated with his unaf- 
fected graces as you seem to be, I shall take the 
liberty, in charity to the rest of my boarders, of 
requesting him to-morrow to seek other lodgings." 

" O," exclaimed Mrs. B., in the goodness of 
her heart, and with a countenance evincive of the 
deepest feeling, " I would not have you do such a 
thing for the world. He's only going to stay a few 
days." 

" How do you know? " 

" He told me so, and do let's bear with him that 
short time. He sha'n't trouble you or the boarders 
any more." 

"Why, Sarah," said the landlord, " I do believe 
you are out of your senses !" 

" Gone case," said one boarder; " Terrible af- 
fair," said another; "Bewitching little fellow," 
said a third. " Come, Mrs. Blank, tell us all he 
said to you ! We young men wish to know how 
to please the ladies, so that we may get wives 
easily. I'm determined, the next party I go to, to 
make a soup of every thing on the waiters and eat 
all at once. I shall then become irresistible to the 
ladies." 

" Get along with your nonsense," said Mrs. B., 
smiling as she left the room. 

At 8 o'clock I retired to my room, which hap- 
pened (probably from the circumstance of our 
reaching the hotel within a few minutes of each 
other) to be adjoining Ned's. I had no sooner 



t 

254 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

entered my room than Ned followed me, where 
we interchanged the particulars which make up 
the foregoing story. He now expended freely the 
laughter which he had been collecting during the 
evening. He stated that his last interview with 
Mrs. Blank was the result of necessitv; that he 
found he had committed himself in making up and 
disposing of his odd supper; for that he should 
have to eat in the same way during his whole stay 
in Savannah, unless he could manage to get his 
meals in private; and, though he was willing to do 
penance for one meal in order to purchase the 
amusement he had enjoyed, he had no idea of 
tormenting himself three or four days for the same 
purpose. " To tell you the honest truth," said he, 
" nothing but an appetite whetted by fasting and 
traveling could have borne me through the table 
scene. As it was, my stomach several times threat- 
ened to expose my tricks to the whole company by 
downright open rebellion. I feel that I must make 
it some atonement for the liberty I have taken with 
it, and therefore propose that we go out and take 
an oyster supper before we retire to rest." 1 as- 
sented. We set out, going separately until we 
reached the street. 

We were received by the oyster-vender in a 
small shop which fronted upon the street, and 
were conducted through it to a back door, and 
thence by a flight of steps to a convenient room 
011 the second floor of an adjoining building. We 
had been seated about three minutes, when we 
heard footsteps on the stairs, and directly caught 
this sentence from the ascending stranger: "Aha. 



NED BRACE. 255 

Monsieur Middletong, you say you hab the bes 
oystar in le cittee? Vel, me shall soon see." 

The sentence was hardly uttered before the door 
opened, and in stepped a gay, smirky little French- 
man. He made us a low bow; and, as soon as he 
rose from his obeisance, Ned rushed to him in 
transports of joy, seized him by the hand, and, 
shaking it with friendship's warmest grasp, ex- 
claimed: " How do you do, my old friend? I had 
no idea of meeting you here. How do you do, Mr. 
Squeezelfanter? How have you been this long 
time ? ' ' 

" Sair," said the Frenchman, " me tank you ver 
much to lub me so hard, but you mistake de gen- 
tleman; my name is not de Squeezilfaunter." 

"Come, come, John," continued Ned, "quit 
your old tricks before strangers. Mr. Hall, let 
me introduce you to my particular friend, John 
Squeezelfanter, from Paris." 

"Perhaps, sir," said I, not knowing well what 
to say or how to act in such an emergency — " per- 
haps you have mistaken the gentleman." 

" Begar, sair," said monsieur, " he is mistac 
ebery ting at once. My name is not Zhaun; me 
play no treek; me is not de gentlemong fren' ; me 
did not come from Paree, but from Bordeaux; and 
me did not suppose dare was a man in all France 
dat was name de Squeezilfaunter." 

"If I am mistaken," said Ned, " I humbly ask 
your pardon; but, really, you look so much like 
my old friend Jack, and talk so much like him, 
that I would have sworn you were he." 

"Vel, sair," said monsieur, looking at Ned as 



256 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

though he might be an aquaintance after all — " vel, 
sair, dis time you tell my name right: my name is 
Jacques* — yacqucs Saiicric.''' 

" There," proceeded Ned, " I knew it was im- 
possible I could be mistaken ; your whole family 
settled on Sandy Creek; I know your father and 
mother, your sisters, Patsy and Dilsy, your brother 
Ichabod, your Aunt Bridget, your" — 

"O, mon Dieu, mon Dieu ! " exclaimed the 
Frenchman, " dat is von Mericane familee ; dare 
vas not one French familee hab all dat name since 
dis vorl vas make." 

" Now look at me, good Jack," said Ned, " and 
see if you don't recollect your old friend, Obadiah 
Snoddleburg, who used to play with you when a 
boy in Sandy Creek." 

" Vel, Monsieur Snotborg, me look at you ver' 
well; and, begar, me neber see you in de creek, 
nor out de creek. Tis ver surprise you not know 
one name from one creek.'''' 

" O, very well, sir, very well; I forgot where I 
was; I understand you now, perfectly. You are 
not the first gentleman I have met with in Savan- 
nah who knew me well in the country and forgot 
me in town. I ask your pardon, sir, and hope 
you'll excuse me." 

"Me is ver wilt to know you now, sair: but, 
begar, me will not tell you one lie to know \<>u 
twenty-Jive and tirty years ago." 

" It makes no difference, sir," said Ned, look- 
ing thoughtful and chagrined. " I beg leave, 

: This name in French i-- pronounced very nearly like "Jack " 
in English, 



NED BRACE. 257 

however, before we close our acquaintance to cor- 
rect one mistake which I made. I said you were 
from Paris. I believe, on reflection, I was wrong; 
I think your sister Dilsy told me you were from 
Bordeaux." 

" Foutre, de sist Dils ! Here Monsieur Middle- 
to ng ! My oystar ready ? ' ' 

"Yes, sir." 

" Vel, if my oystar ready, you give dem to my 
fren Monsieur Snotborg, and ask him to be so 
good to carry dem to my sist Dils and my brother 
Ichbod on Sand Creek." So saying, he vanished 
like lightning. 

The next morning, at breakfast, I occupied 
Ned's seat. Mrs. Blank had no sooner taken her 
place than she ordered a servant to bring her a 
waiter, upon which she placed a cup of tea and 
another of coffee; then, ordering three plates, she 
placed them on it; sent one servant for one kind 
of bread and another for another, and so on 
through all the varieties that were on the table, 
from which she made selections for plate No. 1. 
In the same way did she collect meats for plate 
No. 2. No. 3 she left blank. She had nearly 
completed her operations, when her husband came 
to know why every servant was engaged and no 
gentlemen helped to any thing, when the oddly 
furnished waiter met his eye and fully explained 
the wonder. 

"In God's name, Sarah," said he, "who are 
you mixing up those messes for? " 

" For that strange gentleman we were speaking 
of last night," was the reply. 
17 



258 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

" Why doesn't he come to the table?" 

" He was very anxious to come, but I would not 
let him." 

"Tott would not let him ! Why not? ** 

" Because I did not wish to see a man of his 
delicate sensibilities ridiculed and insulted at my 
table." 

"Delicate devilabilities ! Then why didn't you 
send a servant to collect his mixtures? '" 

" Because I preferred doing it myself to troub- 
ling the boarders. I knew that wherever the plates 
went the gentlemen would be making merry over 
them, and I couldn't bear to see it." 

The landlord looked at her for a moment with 
commingled astonishment, doubt, and alarm ; anil 
then, upon the breath of a deep-drawn sigh, pro- 
ceeded: " Well, d — n* the man ! He hasn't been 
in the house more than two hours, except when he 
was asleep, and he has insulted one-hall my board- 
ers, made fools of the other half, turned the head 
of my bar-keeper, crazed all my servants, and run 
my wife right stark, staring, raxing mad: a man 
who is a perfect clown in his manners, and who, I 
have no doubt, will in the end prove to be a horse 
thief." 

Much occurred between the landlord and his 
huh' in relation to Ned which we must, of neces- 
sity, omit. Suffice it to say that her assiduities to 

*I should certainly omit such expressions a- this could I do 
so with historic fidelity, but the peculiarities <>f the times of 
which 1 am writing cannot be faithfully represented without 
them. In recording things as they arc, truth requires me some- 
timee to put profane language into the mouths of mv characters. 



NED BRACE. 259 

Ned, her unexplained sympathies for him, her 
often repeated desires to become better acquainted 
with him, conspiring with one or two short inter- 
views which her husband saw between her and 
Ned (and which consisted of nothing more than 
expressions of regret on his part at the trouble he 
was giving the family, and assurance on hers that 
it was no trouble at all), began to bring upon the 
landlord the husband's worst calamity. This she 
soon observed; and, considering her duty to her 
husband as of paramount obligation, she gave him 
an explanation that was entirely satisfactory. She 
told him that Ned was a man of refined feelings 
and highly cultivated mind; but that in his infancy 
his mother had forced him to eat different kinds 
of diet together until she had produced in him a 
vitiated and unconquerable appetite, wnich he was 
now constained to indulge, as the drunkard does 
his, or be miserable. As the good man was pre- 
pared to believe any story of woman 's folly, he was 
satisfied. 

This being the Sabbath, at the usual hour Ned 
went to Church; and selected for his morning 
service one of those churches in which the pews 
are free, and in which the hymn is given out and 
sung by the congregation, a half recitative. 

Ned entered the church in as fast a walk as he 
could possibly assume, proceeded about half down 
the aisle, and popped himself down in his seat as 
quick as if he had been shot. The more thought- 
less of the congregation began to titter, and the 
graver peeped up shyly but solemnly at him. 

The pastor rose, and, before giving out the 



260 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

hymn, observed that singing was a part of the 
service in which he thought the whole congrega- 
tion ought to join. Thus saying, he gave out the 
first lines of the hymn. As soon as the tune was 
raised, Ned struck in with one of the loudest, 
hoarsest, and most discordant voices that ever an- 
noyed a solemn assembly. 

"I would observe," said the preacher, before 
giving out the next two lines, " that there are some 
persons who have not the gift of singing; such, of 
course, are not expected to sing." Ned took the 
hint, and sung no more; but his entrance into 
church, and his entrance into the hymn, had al- 
ready dispersed the solemnity of three-fifths of the 
congregation. 

As soon as the pastor commenced his sermon, 
Ned opened his eyes, threw back his head, dropped 
his under jaw, and surrendered himself to the most 
intense interest. The preacher was an indifferent 
one; and by as much as he became dull and in- 
sipid, by so much did Ned become absorbed in the 
discourse. And yet it was impossible for the nicest 
observer to detect any thing in his looks or manner 
short of the most solemn devotion. The effect 
which his conduct had upon the congregation, and 
their subsequent remarks, must be left to the im- 
agination of the reader. I give but one remark: 
"Bless that good man who came in the church BO 
quick," said a venerable matron as she left the 
church-door; " how he was affected by the sar- 
ment!" 

Ned went to church no more on that day. About 
4 o'clock in the afternoon, while he was standing 



NED BRACE. 26 1 

at the tavern door, a funeral procession passed by, 
at the foot of which, and singly, walked one of the 
smallest men I ever saw. As soon as he came op- 
posite the door, Ned stepped out and joined him 
with great solemnity. The contrast between the 
two was ludicrously striking, and the little man's 
looks and uneasiness plainly showed that he felt it. 
However, he soon became reconciled to it. They 
proceeded but a little way before Ned inquired of 
his companion who was dead. 

"Mr. Noah Bills," said the little man. 

"Nan?" said Ned, raising his hand to his ear 
in token of deafness, and bending his head to the 
speaker. 

"Mr. Noah Bills," repeated the little man, loud 
enough to disturb the two couples immediately be- 
fore him. 

"Mrs. Noel's Bill!" said Ned, with mortifica- 
tion and astonishment. " Do the white persons 
pay such respect to niggers in Savannah? / 
sha'n't do it." So saying, he left the procession. 

The little man was at first considerably nettled ; 
but upon being left to his own reflections, he got 
into an uncontrollable fit of laughter, as did the 
couple immediately in advance of him, who over- 
heard Ned's remark. The procession now exhib- 
ited a most mortifying spectacle: the head of it in 
mourning and in tears, and the foot of it convulsed 
with laughter. 

On Monday Ned employed himself in disposing 
of the business which brought him to Savannah, 
and I saw but little of him, but I could not step 
into the street without hearing of him. All talked 



262 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

about him, and hardly an}- two agreed about his 
character. 

On Tuesday he visited the market, and set it all 
in astonishment or laughter. He wanted to buy 
something of everybody and some of every thing, 
but could not agree upon the terms of a trade be- 
cause he always wanted his articles in such por- 
tions and numbers as no one would sell, or upon 
conditions to which no one would submit. To 
give a single example, he beset an old negro wom- 
an to sell him the half of a living chicken. 

" Do, my good mauma, sell it to me," said he; 
" my wife is very sick, and is longing for chicken 
pie, and this is all the money I have [holding out 
twelve and a half cents in silver] , and its just what 
a half chicken comes to at your own price." 

"Ki, massa ! how gwine cut live chicken in 
two?" 

" I don't want you to cut it i:i two alive; kill it, 
clean it, and then divide it." 

" Name o' God ! what sort o' chance got to clean 
chicken in de market-house? Whay de water for 
scall um and wash um?" 

" Don't scald it all; just pick it so." 

" Ech-ech ! Fedder fly all ober de buckera- 
man meat; he come bang me fo' true. No, massa, 
I mighty sorry for your wife, but I no cutty chick- 
en open." 

In the afternoon Ned entered the dining-room 
of the tavern, and who should he find there but 
Monsieur Sancric, of oyster-house memory. He 
and the tavern-keeper were alone. With the first 
glimpse of Ned, "La (liable!*' exclaimed the 



NED BRACE. 263 

Frenchman, "here my brother Ichbod 'gain!" 
and away he went. 

"Mr. Sancric!" said the landlord, calling to 
him as if to tell him something just thought of, and 
following him out, " what did you say that man's 
name is?" 

" He name Monsieur Snotborg." 

"Why, that can't be his name, for it begins with 
a B or an R. Where is he from?" 

" From Sand Creek." 

" Where did you know him? " 

" Begar, me neber did know him." 

Here Ned sauntered in sight of the Frenchman, 
and he vanished. 

"Well," said the landlord, as he returned, "it 
does seem to me that everybody who has any thing 
to do with that man runs crazy forthwith." 

When he entered the dining-room, he found Ned 
deeply engaged reading a child's primer, with 
which he seemed wonderfully delighted. The 
landlord sat for a moment, smiled, and then hastily 
left the room. As soon as he disappeared, Ned 
laid down his book, and took his station behind 
some cloaks in the bar, which at the moment was 
deserted. He had just reached his place when the 
landlord returned with his lady. 

"O," said the first, "he's gone! I brought you 
in to show you what kind of books your man of 
* refined feelings and highly cultivated mind ' de- 
lights in. But he has left his book, and here it is, 
opened at the place where he left off; and do let's 
see what's in it." 

They examined and found that he had been 



264 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

reading the interesting poem of " Little Jack 
Horner." 

"Now," continued the landlord, " if you'll be- 
lieve me, he was just as much delighted with that 
story as you or I would be with the best written 
number of the Spectator." 

"Well, it's very strange," said Mrs. Blank; " I 
reckon he must bejUg/ity, for no man could have 
made a more gentlemanly apology than he did to 
me for his peculiarities, and no one could have 
urged it more feelingly." 

"One thing is very certain," said the husband; 
"if he be not flighty himself, he has a wonderful 
knack of making everybody else so. Sancric ran 
away from him just now as if he had seen the dev- 
il; called him by one name when he left the room, 
by another at the door, told me where he came 
from, and finally swore he did not know him at 
all." 

Ned, having slipped softly from the bar into the 
entry during this interview, entered the dining- 
room as if from the street. 

"lam happy," said he smiling, "to meet you 
together and alone upon the eve of my departure 
from Savannah that I may explain to you my sin- 
gular conduct, and ask your forgiveness of it. I 
will do so if you will not expose my true character 
until I shall have left the city." 

This they promised. 

"My name then." continued lie. "is Edward 
Brace, of Richmond County. Humor has been 
my besetting sin from my youth up. It has sunk 
me far below the station to which my native gilts 



NED BRACE. 26$ 

entitled me. It has robbed me of the respect of all 
my acquaintances; and, what is more to be re- 
gretted, the esteem of some of my best and most 
indulgent friends. All this I have long known, and 
I have a thousand times deplored, and as often re- 
solved to conquer my self-destroying propensity. 
But so deeply is it wrought into my very nature, so 
completely and indissolubly interwoven is it with 
every fiber and filament of my being, that I have 
found it impossible for me to subdue it. Being on 
my first visit to Savannah, unknowing and un- 
known, I could not forego the opportunity which 
it furnished of gratifying my ungovernable procliv- 
ity. All the extravagances which you have seen 
have been in subservience to it." 

He then explained the cause of his troubling the 
kind lady before him to give him his meals at his 
room and the strange conduct of Monsieur Sancric ; 
at which they both laughed heartily. He referred 
them to me for confirmation of what he had told 
them. " Having gone' thus far," continued he, "I 
must sustain my character until to-morrow, when I 
shall leave Savannah." 

Having now two more to enjoy his humor with 
him and myself, he let himself loose that night 
among the boarders with all his strength, and never 
did I see two mortals laugh as did Mr. and Mrs. 
Blank. 

Far as I have extended this sketch, I cannot 
close without exhibiting Ned in one new scene in 
which accident placed him before he left Savan- 
nah. 

About 2 o'clock on the morning of our depart- 



266 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

ure the town was alarmed by the cry of fire. Ned 
got up before me and taking one of my boots from 
the door and putting one of his "in its place he 
marched down to the front door with odd boots. 
On coming out and finding what had been done, I 
knew that Ned could not have left the house, for it 
was impossible for him to wear my boot. I was 
about descending the stairs when he called to me 
from the front door and said the servant had mixed 
our boots and that he had brought down one of 
mine. When I reached the front door I found 
Ned and Mr. and Mrs. Blank there, all the inmates 
of the house having left it who designed to leave it 
but Xed and myself. 

"Don't go and leave me, Hall/' said he, hold- 
ing my boot in his hand and having his own on his 
leg. 

" How can I leave you," said I "unless you'll 
give me my boot? " This he did not seem to hear. 

"Do run, gentlemen," said Mrs. Blank, greatly 
alarmed; " Mr. Brace, you've got Mr. Hall's boot; 
give it to him." 

" In a minute, madam." said he, seeming to be 
beside himself. A second alter, however, all was 
explained to me. He designed to have my com- 
pany to the fire, anil his own fun before he went. 

A man came posting along in great alarm, and 
crying " Fire " loudly. 

" Mister! mister!" said Ned, jumping out of the 
house. 

*' Sir," said the man. stopping ami puffing aw- 
fully. 

•• Have you seen Mr. Peleg Q. C. Stone along 



NED BRACE. 267 

where you've been?" inquired Ned, with anxious 
solicitude. 

"Blast Mr. Peleg Q. C. Stone!" said the 
stranger. "What chance have I of seeing any- 
body, hopping up at 2 o'clock in the morning, 
and the town afire? " and on he went. 

Thus did he amuse himself with various ques- 
tions and remarks to four or five passengers, until 
even Mrs. Blank forgot for awhile that the town 
was in flames. The last object of his sport was a 
woman who came along exclaiming: " O it's Mr. 
Dalby's house ! I'm sure it's Mr. Dalby's house ! " 
Two gentlemen assured her that the fire was far 
beyond Mr. Dalby's house; but still she went on 
with her exclamations. When she had passed the 
door about ten steps Ned permitted me to cover my 
frozen foot with my boot, and we moved on toward 
the fire. We soon overtook the woman just men- 
tioned, who had become somewhat pacified. As 
Ned came alongside of her, without seeming to no- 
tice her, he observed: "Poor Dalby! I see his 
house is gone." 

"I said so ! " she screamed out; "I knew it ! " 
and on she went, screaming ten times louder than 
before. 

As soon as we reached the fire a gentleman in 
military dress rode up and ordered Ned into the 
line to hand buckets. Ned stepped in, and the first 
bucket that was handed to him he raised it very de- 
liberately to his mouth and began to drink. In a 
few seconds all on Ned's right were overburdened 
with buckets, while those on his left were unem- 
ployed. Terrible was the cursing and clamor, and 



268 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

twenty voices at once ordered Ned out of the line. 
Ned stepped out, and along came the man on horse- 
back and ordered him in again. 

" Captain," said Ned, " I am so thirsty that I 
can do nothing until I get some water, and they 
will not let me drink in the line." 

" Well," said the captain, " step in, and I'll see 
that you get a drink." 

Ned stepped in again, and, receiving the first 
bucket, began to raise it to his lips very slowly, 
when some one hallooed to him to pass on the buck- 
et, and he brought it down again and handed it on. 

" Why didn't you drink? " said the captain. 

" Why don't } r ou see they won't let me? " said 
Ned. 

" Don't mind what they say; drink, and then go 
on with your w r ork." 

Ned took the next bucket and commenced rais- 
ing it as before, when some one again ordered him 
to pass on the bucket. 

" There," said Ned, turning to the captain with 
the bucket half raised, " you hear that? " 

" Why blast your eyes," said the captain, " what 
do you stop for? Drink on and have done with 
it." 

Ned raised the bucket to his lips and drank, or 
pretended to drink, until a horse might have been 
satisfied. 

"An'tyou done?" said the captain, general mu- 
tiny and complaint beginning to prevail in the line. 
Without replying, Neil continued to drink. 

" Why ha'n't you drunk enough?" said the cap- 
tain, becoming extremely impatient. 



NED BRACE. 269 

" Most," said Ned, letting out a long breath and 
still holding the bucket near his lips. 

" Zounds and blood ! " cried the captain, " clear 
yourself; you'll drink an engineful of water." 

Ned left the ranks and went to his lodgings, and 
the rising sun found us on our way homeward. 



THE DEBATING SOCIETY. 



The following is not strictly a " Georgia Scene," 
but, as Georgians were the chief actors in it, it 
may perhaps be introduced with propriety in these 
sketches. 

About three and twenty years ago, at the cele- 
brated school in W n, was formed a debating 

society, composed of young gentlemen between 
the ages of seventeen and twenty-two. Of the 
number were two who, rather from uncommon 
volubility than from any superior gifts or acquire- 
ments which they possessed over their associates, 
were, by common consent, placed at the head of 
the fraternity. At least this was true of one of 
them ; the other certainly had higher claims to his 
distinction. He was a man of the highest order of 
intellect, who, though he has since been known 
throughout the Union as one of the ablest speak- 
ers in the country, seems to me to have added but 
little to his powers in debate since he passed his 
twenty-second year. The name of the first was 
Longworth, and McDermot was the name of the 
last. They were congenial spirits, warm friends, 
and classmates at the time of which I am speaking. 

It was a rule of the society that every member 
should speak upon the subjects chosen for discus- 
sion, or pay a line; and as all the members valued 
the little stock of change with which they were iur- 
(270) 



THE DEBATING SOC/ETT. 27 1 

nished more than they did their reputation for ora- 
tory, not a fine had been imposed for a breach of 
this rule from the organization of the society to this 
time. 

The subjects for discussion were proposed by 
the members, and selected by the President, whose 
prerogative it was also to arrange the speakers on 
either side at his pleasure, though, in selecting the 
subjects, he was influenced not a little by the mem- 
bers, who gave their opinions freely of those which 
were offered. 

It was just as the time was approaching when 
most of the members were to leave the society — 
some for college, and some for the busy scenes of 
life — that McDermot went to share his •classmate's 
bed for a night. In the course of the evening's 
conversation, the society came upon the tapis. 

"Mac," said Longworth, "wouldn't we have 
rare sport if we could impose a subject upon the 
society which has no sense in it, and hear the 
members speak upon it? " 

"Zounds!" said McDermot, "it would be the 
finest fun in the world. Let's try it. At all events, 
we can lose nothing by the experiment." 

A sheet of foolscap was immediately divided be- 
tween them, and they industriously commenced 
the difficult task of framing sentences which should 
possess the form of a debatable question without 
a particle of the substance. After an hour's toil, 
they at length exhibited the fruits of their labor; 
and, after some reflection and much laughing, they 
selected, from about thirty subjects proposed, the 
following as most likely to be received by the so- 



272 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ciety: il Whether, at ■f>ul>lic elections^ should the 
votes of faction -predominate by interna I suggest- 
ions, or the bias of jurisprudence?'*'' 

Long-worth was to propose it to the society, and 
McDermot was to advocate its adoption. As they 
had every reason to suppose, from the practice of 
the past, that they would be placed at the head of 
the list of disputants and on opposite sides, it was 
agreed between them, in case the experiment 
should succeed, that they would write off and in- 
terchange their speeches, in order that each might 
quote literally from the other, and thus seem, at 
least, to understand each other. 

The day at length came for the triumph or de- 
feat of the project, and several accidental circum- 
stances conspired to crown it with success. The 
society had entirely exhausted their subjects, the 
discussion of the day had been protracted to an 
unusual length, and the horns of the several board- 
ing-houses began to sound just as it ended. It was 
at this auspicious moment that Longworth rose and 
proposed his subject. It was caught at with rapt- 
ure by McDermot as being decidedly the best that 
had ever been submitted, and he wondered that 
none of the members had thought of it before. 

It was no sooner proposed than several members 
exclaimed that they did not understand it, and de- 
manded an explanation from the mover. Long- 
worth replied that there was no time then for ex- 
planations, but that either himself or Mr. Mc- 
1 >ermot would explain it at any other time. 

Upon the credit of the maker and iudcrser, the 
subject was accepted; and, under pretense of 



THE DEBATING SOCIETT. 273 

economizing time (but really to avoid a repetition 
of the question), Longworth kindly offered to re- 
cord it for the secretary. This labor ended, he 
announced that he was prepared for the arrange- 
ment of the disputants. 

"Put yourself," said the President, "on the 
affirmative, and Mr. McDermot on the negative." 

"The subject," said Longworth, "cannot well 
be resolved into an affirmative and negative. It 
consists more properly of two conflicting affirma- 
tives. I have, therefore, drawn out the heads un- 
der which the speakers are to be arranged thus: 
* Internal Suggestions; ' * Bias of Jurisprudence? " 

" Then put yourself ' Internal Suggestions,' Mr. 
McDermot the other side ; Mr. Craig on your 
side, Mr. Pentigall the other side," and so on. 

McDermot and Longworth now determined that 
they would not be seen by any other member of 
the society during the succeeding week, except at 
times when explanations could not be asked, or 
when they were too busy to give them, conse- 
quently the week passed away without any expla- 
nations, and the members were summoned to dis- 
pose of the important subject with no other lights 
upon it than those which they could collect from 
its terms. When they assembled, there was man- 
ifest alarm on the countenances of all but two of 
them. 

The society was opened in due form, and Mr. 
Longworth was called on to open the debate. He 
rose, and proceeded as follows: "Mr. President, 
the subject selected for this day's discussion is 
one of vast importance, pervading the profound 
18 



27-j JUDGE LONSGTREET. 

depths of pyschology, and embracing within its 
comprehensive range all that is interesting in mor- 
als, government, law, and politics. But, sir, I 
shall not follow it through all its interesting and 
diversified ramifications, but will endeavor to de • 
duce from it those great and fundamental princi- 
ples which have direct bearing upon the antago- 
nistic positions of the disputants, confining myself 
more immediately to its pyschological influence 
(when exerted) especially upon the votes of faction, 
for here is the point upon which the question main- 
ly turns. In the next place, I shall consider the 
effects of those 'suggestions' emphatically termed 
internal when applied to the same subject. And, 
in the third place, I shall compare these effects 
with 'the bias of jurisprudence ' considered as the 
only resort in times of popular excitement, for these 
are supposed to exist by the very terms of the ques- 
tion. The first head of this arrangement, and in- 
deed the whole subject of dispute, has already been 
disposed of by this society. We have discussed 
the question, 'Are there any innate maxims.'' and 
with that subject and this there is such an intimate 
affinity that it is impossible to disunite them with- 
out prostrating the vital energies of both, and in- 
troducing the wildest disorder and contusion where, 
by the very nature of things, there exists the most 
harmonious coincidences, and the most happy and 
euphonic congenialities. Here, then, might I rest, 
Mr. President, upon the decision of this society 
with perfect confidence; hut, sir, I am not forced 

to rely upon the insep.ir.d>le affinities of the two 
questions tor success in this dispute, obvious as 



THE DEBATING SOCIETY. 275 

they must be to every reflecting mind. All his- 
tory, ancient and modern, furnish examples cor- 
roborative of the views which I have taken of this 
deeply interesting subject. By what means did 
the renowned poets, philosophers, orators, and 
statesmen of antiquity gain their immortality? 
Whence did Milton, Shakespeare, Newton, Locke, 
Watts, Paley, Burke, Chatham, Pitt, Fox, and a 
host of others whom I might name pluck their 
never fading laurels? I answer boldly, and with- 
out the fear of contradiction, that, though they all 
reached the temple of fame by different routes, 
they all passed through the broad vista of ' internal 
suggestions.' The same may be said of Jefferson, 
Madison, and many other distinguished personages 
of our own country. I challenge the gentlemen 
on the other side to produce examples like these 
in support of their cause." 

Mr. Longworth pressed these profound and log- 
ical views to a length to which our limits will not 
permit us to follow him, and which the reader's 
patience would hardly bear if they would. Per- 
haps, however, he will bear with us while we give 
the conclusion of Mr. Longworth's remarks, as it 
was here that he put forth all his strength: " Mr. 
President, let the bias of jurisprudence predomi- 
nate, and how is it possible (considering it merely 
as extending to those impulses which may with, 
propriety be termed a bias) — how is it possible for 
a government to exist whose object is the public 
good? The marble-hearted marauder might seize 
the throne of civil authority, and hurl into thral- 
dom the votaries of rational liberty. Virtue, jus- 



276 JUDCE LONGSTREET. 

tice, and all the nobler principles of human nature 
would wither away under the pestilential breath of 
political faction, and an unnerved constitution be 
left to the sport of demagogue and parasite. Crash 
after crash would be heard in quick succession as 
the strong pillars of the republic give way, and 
despotism would shout in hellish triumph amid the 
crumbling ruins. Anarchy would wave her bloody 
scepter over the devoted land, and the blood-hounds 
of civil war would lap the crimson gore of our most 
worthy citizens. The shrieks of women and the 
screams of children would be drowned amid the 
clash of swords and the cannon's peal; and lib- 
erty, mantling her face from the horrid scene, 
would spread her golden-tinted pinions and wing 
her flight to some far distant land, never again to 
revisit our peaceful shores. In vain should we 
then sigh for the beatific reign of those ' sugges- 
tions ' which I am proud to acknowledge as pecu- 
liarly and exclusively ' internal.' ' 

Mr. McDermot rose promptly at the call of the 
President, and proceeded as follows: "Mr. Pres- 
ident, if I listened unmoved to the very labored 
appeal to the passions which has just been made, 
it was not because I am insensible to the powers 
of eloquence, but because I happen to be blessed 
with the small measure of sense which is neces- 
sary to distinguish true eloquence from the wild 
ravings of an unbridled imagination. Grave and 
solemn appeals, when ill-timed and misplaced, are 
apt to excite ridicule; hence it was that I detected 

myself more than once in open laughter during the 
most pathetic parts of Mr. LongWOlth's argument. 



THE DEBATING SOCIETY. 2JJ 

if so it can be called.* In the midst of ' crashing 
pillars,' ' crumbling ruins,' * shouting despotism,' 
' screaming women,' and ' flying liberty ' the ques- 
tion was perpetually recurring to me, What has all 
this to do with the subject of dispute ? I will not 
follow the example of that gentleman. It shall be 
my endeavor to clear away the mist which he has 
thrown around the subject, and to place it before 
the society in a clear, intelligible point of view; 
for I must say that, though his speech dears strong" 
marks of the pen [sarcastically], it has but few 
marks of sober reflection. Some of it, I confess, 
is very intelligible and very plausible ; but most of 
it, I boldly assert, no man living can comprehend. 
I mention this for the edification of that gentleman, 
who is usually clear and forcible, to teach him that 
he is most successful when he labors least. Mr. 
President, the gentleman in opening the debate 
stated that the question was one of vast impor- 
tance, pervading the profound depths of pyschol- 
ogy, and embracing within its ample range the 
whole circle of arts and sciences; and really, sir, 
he has verified his statement, for he has extended 
it over the whole moral and physical world. But, 
Mr. President, I take leave to differ from the gen- 
tleman at the very threshold of his remarks. The 
suoject is one which is confined within very nar- 
row limits. It extends no farther than to the elect- 
ive franchise, and is not even commensurate with 
this important privilege, for it stops short at the 



*This was extemporaneous and well conceived, for Mr. Mc- 
Dermot had not played his part Avith becoming gravity. 



278 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

vole of faction. In this point of light the subject 
comes within the grasp of the most common intel- 
lect: it is plain, simple, natural, and intelligible. 
Thus viewing it, Mr. President, where does the 
gentleman find in it, or in all nature besides, the 
original of the dismal picture which he has pre- 
sented to the society? It loses all its interest, and 
becomes supremely ridiculous. Having thus, Mr. 
President, divested the subject of all obscurity, 
having reduced it to those few elements with which 
we are all familiar, I proceed to make a few de- 
ductions from the premises, which seem to me in- 
evitable and decisive of the question. I lay it down 
as a self-evident proposition that faction, in all 
its forms, is hideous; and I maintain, with equal 
confidence that it never has been nor never will be 
restrained by those suggestions which the gentleman 
emphatically terms internal. Xo, sir, nothing short 
of the bias, and the very strong bias, too, of juris- 
prudence, or the potent energies of the sword, can 
restrain it. But, sir, I shall here, perhaps, be asked 
whether there is not a very wide difference between 
a turbulent, lawless faction and the vote of faction. 
Most unquestionably there isj and to this distinc- 
tion I shall presently advert, and demonstrablv 
prove that it is a distinction which makes alto- 
gether in our favor." 

Thus did Mr. Mel )ermot continue t<» dissect and 
expose his adversary's argument in the most clear, 
conclusive! and masterly manner at considerable 
length. But we cannot deal more favorably by 
him than we have dealt by Mr. Longworth. We 
must, therefore, dismiss him after we shall have 



THE DEBATING SOCIETT. 279 

given the reader his concluding remarks. They 
were as follows: " Let us now suppose Mr. Long- 
worth's principles brought to the test of experi- 
ment. Let us suppose his language addressed to 
all mankind: 'We close the temples of justice as 
useless; we burn our codes of laws as worthless; 
and we substitute in their places the more valuable 
restraints of internal suggestions. Thieves, invade 
not your neighbor's property; if you do, you will 
be arraigned before the august tribunal of con- 
science. Robbers, stay your lawless hand, or you 
will be visited with the tremendous penalties of 
fyschology. Murderers, spare the blood of your 
fellow-creatures, or you will be exposed to the ex- 
cruciating tortures of innate maxims, taken it shall 
be discovered that there are any.'' Mr. President, 
could there be- a broader license to crime than this? 
Could a, better plan be devised for dissolving the 
bands of civil society? It requires not the gift of 
prophecy to foresee the consequences of these 
novel and monstrous principles. The strong would 
tyrannize over the weak; the poor would plunder 
the rich; the servant would rise above the master; 
the drones of society would fatten upon the hard 
earnings of the industrious. Indeed, sir, industry 
would soon desert the land, for it would have 
neither reward nor encouragement. Commerce 
would cease ; arts and sciences would languish ; 
all the sacred relations would be dissolved; and 
scenes of havoc, dissolution, and death ensue, 
such as never will visit it until mankind learn to 
repose their destinies upon ' those suggestions em- 
phatically termed internal.'' From all these evils 



280 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

there is a secure retreat behind the brazen walls of 
the 'bias of jurisprudence.' ' 

The gentleman who was next called on to en- 
gage in the debate was John Craig, a gentleman 
of good hard sense, but who was utterly incompe- 
tent to say a word upon a subject which he did 
not understand. He proceeded thus: " Mr. Pres- 
ident, when this subject was proposed, I candidly 
confessed I did not understand it, and I was in- 
formed by Mr. Longworth and Mr. McDermot 
that either of them would explain it an)- leisure 
moment. But, sir, they seem to have taken very 
good care from that time to this to have no leisure 
moment. I have inquired of both of them repeat- 
edly for an explanation, but they were always too 
busy to talk about it. Well, sir, as it was proposed 
by Mr. Longworth, I thought he would certainly 
explain it in his speech, but I understood no more 
of his speech than I did of the subject. Well, sir, 
I thought I should certainly learn something from 
Mr. McDermot, especially as he promised, at the 
commencement of his speech, to clear away the 
mist that Mr. Longworth had thrown about the 
subject, and to place it in a clear, intelligible point 
of light. But, sir, the only difference between his 
speech ami Mr. Longworth's is that it was not. 
quite as flighty as Mr. Longworth's. I couldn't 
understand head nor tail of it. At one time they 
seemed to argue the question as it' it were this: 'Is 
it better to have law or no law?" At another as 
though it were: 'Should taction he governed by 
law or be left to their own consciences? 1 But 
most of the time they argued it as it it were just 



THE DEBATING SOCIETY. 28 1 

what it seems to be: a sentence without sense or 
meaning. But, sir, I suppose its obscurity is ow- 
ing to my dullness of apprehension, for they ap- 
peared to argue it with great earnestness and feel- 
ing as if they understood it. I shall put my 
interpretation upon it, Mr. President, and argue it 
accordingly. ' Whether at public elections ' — that 
is, for members of Congress, members of the Leg- 
islature, etc. — ' should the votes of faction'' — I don't 
know what faction has got to do with, and there- 
fore I shall throw it out — ' should the votes predom- 
inate by internal suggestions or the bias? ' I don't 
know what the article is put in here for. It seems 
to me it ought to be, be biased by 'jurisprudence ' 
or law. In short, Mr. President, I understand the 
question to be, 'Should a man vote as he pleases, 
or should the law say how he should vote?' ' 

Here Mr. Longworth rose and observed that, 
though Mr. Craig was on his side, he felt it due to 
their adversaries to state that this was not a true 
exposition of the subject; that this exposition set- 
tled the question at once on his side, for nobody 
would for a moment contend that the law should 
declare how men should vote ; that unless it be 
confined to the vote of faction and the bias of 
jurisprudence it was no subject at all. To all this 
Mr. McDermot signified his unqualified approba- 
tion, and seemed pleased with the candor of his 
opponent. 

" Well," said Mr. Craig, " I thought it was im- 
possible that any one should propose such a ques- 
tion as that to the society; but will Mr. Long- 
worth tell us, if it does not mean that, what it does 



282 JUDGE LONGSTHEET. 

mean, for I don't see what great change is made 
in it by his explanation." 

Mr. Longworth replied that if the remarks which 
he had just made, and his argument had not fully 
explained the subject to Mr. Craig, he feared it 
would be out of his power to explain it. 

" Then," said Mr. Craig, " I'll pay my fine, for 
I don't understand a word of it." 

The next one summoned to the debate was Mr. 
Pentigall. Mr. Pentigall was one of those who 
would never acknowledge his ignorance of any 
thing which any person else understood ; and that 
Longvvorth and McDermot were both masters of 
the subject was clear both from their fluency and 
seriousness. He therefore determined to under- 
stand it at all hazards, consequently he arose at the 
President's command with considerable self-con- 
fidence. I regret, however, that it is impossible to 
commit Mr. Pentigall's manner to paper, without 
which his remarks lose nearly all their interest. 
lie was a tall, handsome man; a little theatric in 
his manner, rapid in his delivery, ami singular in 
his pronunciation. Me gave to the c and i of our 
language the sound of //, at least his peculiar in- 
tonations of voice seemed to give them that sound, 
and his rapidity of utterance seemed t<> change the 
termination "lion" into "ah." With all his pe- 
culiarities, however, he was a line fellow. It he 
was ambitious, he was not invidious; and he pos- 
sessed an amicable disposition. lie proceeded as 

follows: "Mr. President, ibis internal suggestion 
(which has been so eloquently discussed b\ Mr. 
Longworth) and the bias <■! jurisprudence (which 



THE DEBATING SOCIETY. 283 

has been so ably advocated by Mr. McDermot) — ■ 
hem 1— - Mr. President, in order to fix the line of 
demarkation between— -between-— ah— the internal 
suggestion and the bias of jurisprudence— Mr. 
President, I think, sir, that— ah — the subject must 
be confined to the vote of faction and the bias of 
jurisprudence." 

Here Mr. Pentigall clapped his right hand to his 
forehead as though he had that moment heard some 
overpowering news ; and, after maintaining this po- 
sition for about the space of ten seconds, he slowly 
withdrew his hand, gave his head a slight inclina- 
tion to the right, raised his eyes to the President 
as if just awakening from a trance, and, with a 
voice of the most hopeless despair, concluded with: 
" I don't understand the subject, Muster Prusi- 
dunt.'" 

The rest of the members on both sides submit- 
ted to be fined rather than attempt the knotty sub- 
ject, but by common consent the penal rule was 
dispensed with. Nothing now remained to close 
the exercises but the decision of the Chair. 

The President, John Nuble, was a young man 
not unlike Craig in his turn of mind, though he 
possessed an intellect a .little more sprightly than 
Craig's. His decision was short. 

"Gentlemen," said he, "I do not understand 
the subject. This," continued he (pulling out his 
knife, and pointing to the silvered or cross side of 
it), "is ' Internal Suggestions,' and this [pointing 
to the other or ■pile side] is ' Bias of Jurispru- 
dence.' ' So saying, he threw up his knife; and 
upon its fall determined that " Internal Sugges- 



284 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

tions " had got it, and ordered the decision to be 
registered according]}-. 

It is worthy of note that, in their zeal to accom- 
plish their purpose, Longworth and McDermot 
forgot to destroy the list of subjects from which 
they had selected the one so often mentioned : and 
one of these lists containing the subject discussed, 
with a number more like it, was picked up by Mr. 
Craig, who made a public exhibition of it, threat- 
ening to arraign the conspirators before the society 
for contempt. But, as the parting hour was at 
hand, he overlooked it with the rest of the brother- 
hood, and often laughed heartily at the trick. 

Hall. 



THE SONG. 



It is not to avoid the malediction of Shakespeare 
upon such " as have not music in themselves, 
and are not charmed with the concord of sweet 
sounds," that I profess to be fond of music, but 
because I am, in truth, extravagantly fond of it. 
But I am not fond of French music ; and as for the 
Italian I think that any one who will dare to inflict 
it upon an American ear ought to be sent to the 
penitentiary without a trial. It is true that some of 
the simple, national French airs are very fine; but 
there is not one in a thousand Italian tunes, simple 
or compound, which is not manslaughter. The 
German compositions are decidedly the best from 
the continent of Europe; but even these are, of 
late, partaking so much of the vices of France and 
Italy that the}^ have become scarcely sufferable. 
As yet, however, they may be safely admitted into 
a land of liberty and sense. Scotland has escaped 
the corruptions which have crept into the empire 
of music, and, consequently, her music recom- 
mends itself with irresistible charms to every ear 
which is not vitiated by the senseless rattle of the 
Continent. Ireland is a little more contaminated; 
but still her compositions retain enough of their 
primitive simplicity and sweetness to entitle them 
to the patronage of all who would cultivate a cor- 

(285) 



286 JUDGE LOXGSTREET. 

rect taste in this interesting department of the fine 
arts. I would not be understood as speaking here 
without any limitations or restrictions, but I do' 
maintain that with some few exceptions all of the 
soul of music which is now left in the world is to 
be found in Scotland or Ireland. 

But Germans, Frenchmen, and Italians are de- 
cidedly the best — that is, the most expert — perform- 
ers in the world. They perform all over the world, 
and in order to exhibit themselves to the best ad- 
vantage they select the most difficult and compli- 
cated pieces. The people at large presume that 
the best performers must be the best judges of 
music and must make the best selections; they 
therefore forego the trouble of forming an opinion 
of their own and pin their faith upon the decisions 
or rather the practice of the amateurs. It was 
somehow in this way, I presume, that the fashion- 
able music of the day first obtained currency. 
Having become prevalent, it has become tolerable, 
just as has the use of tobacco or ardent spirits. 
And while upon this head I would earnestly recom- 
mend to the friends of reform in our favored coun- 
try to establish an "Anti-Mad Music Society," in 
order to suppress, if possible, the cruelties of our 
modern musical entertainments. 

If the instrumental music of France and Italy be 
bad. their vocal music is, if possible, a thousand 
times worse. Neither the English nor i 'he Georgia 
language furnishes me with a term expressive of 
the horrors of a French or Italian song as it is 
agonized forth by one of their professed singers. 
The law should make it justifiable homicide in any 



THE SONG. 287 

man to kill an Italian in the very act of inflicting an 
il Spenser oso upon a refined American ear. 

And yet, with all the other European abomina- 
tions which have crept into our highly favored 
country, the French and Italian style of singing and 
playing has made its way hither ; and it is not un- 
common to hear our boarding-school misses piping 
away, not merely in the style, but in the very lan- 
guage of these nations. This I can bear very well 
if there happen to be a Frenchman or an Italian 
present, because I know that he suffers more from 
the words than I do from the music, for I confess 
that upon such occasions I feel something of the 
savage malignity which visits the sins of a nation 
upon any of its citizens. But it most frequently 
happens that I am put to the tortures of which I 
have been speaking without this mitigation. It was 

thus with me a few evenings ago at Mrs. B 's 

party. 

Tea had been disposed of, and the nonsensical 
chitchat of such occasions had begun to flag, when 
I invited Miss Mary Williams to the piano. She 
arose promptly at my request, without any affected 
airs and with no other apology than that " she felt 
some diffidence at playing in the presence of Miss 
Crumj>." The piano was an admirable one, and 
its tones were exquisitely fine. Mary seated her- 
self at it and after a short but beautiful prelude she 
commenced one of Burns's plaintive songs to a 
tune which was new to me, but which was obvious- 
ly from the poet's own land, and by one who felt 
the inspiration of his verse. The composer and 
the poet were both honored by the performer. 



288 J UD GE L ONGS TREE T. 

Mary's voice was inimitably fine. Her enunciation 
was clear and distinct, with just emphasis enough 
to give the verse its appropriate expression without 
interrupting the melody of the music; and her 
modulations were perfect. 

She had closed and was in the act of rising be- 
fore I awoke from the delightful reverie into which 
she had lulled me. I arrested her, however, and 
insisted upon her proceeding; when she gave me 
one of Allan Ramsay's best, to measure equally ap- 
propriate. This she followed with Tannahill's 
" Gloomy Winter's now Awa'," and was again re- 
tiring, when my friend Hall observed : " See, Miss 
Mary, you've brought a tear to Mr. Baldwin's eye, 
and you must not cease until }-ou chase it away 
with some lively air." My friend was right. The 
touching pathos of Mary's voice, conspiring with a 
train of reflections which the song inspired, had 
really brought me to tears. I thought of poor Tan- 
nahill's fate. He was the victim of a book-seller's 
stupidity. With men of taste and letters his fugi- 
tive pieces, particularly his lyrics, had gained him 
a well-deserved reputation ; but he was not exempt 
from the common lot of authors. He was attacked 
by the ignorant and the invidious: and. with the 
hopeless design of silencing these, he pre- 
pared a volume or more of his poems with great 
care and sent them to a book-seller for publication. 
After the lapse of several wet ka they were returned 
without a compliment or an oiler for them. 1 he 
mortification and disappointment were too severe 
for his reason. It deserted him, and soon after he 
was found dead in a tunnel of the burn which had 



THE SONG. 289 

been the scene of one of his earliest songs. Un- 
fortunately, in his madness he destroyed his favor- 
ite works. 

Such was the train of reflection from which 
Mary was kind enough, at the request of my friend, 
to relieve me by a lively Irish air. Had it not been 
admirably selected, I could hardly have borne the 
transition. But there was enough of softening mel- 
ody, mingled with the sprightliness of the air, to lead 
me gently to a gayer mood, in which she left me. 

In the meantime, most of the young ladies and 
gentlemen had formed a circle around Miss Aure- 
lia Emma Theodosia Augusta Crump, and were 
earnestly engaged in pressing her to play. One 
young lady even went so far as to drop on her 
knees before her, and in this posture to beseech 
" her dear Augusta just to play the delightful over- 
ture of ," something that sounded to me like 

" Blaze in the frets." This petition was urged with 
such a melting sweetness of voice, such a bewitch- 
ing leer at the gentlemen, and such a theatric heave 
of the bosom, that it threw the young gentlemen 
into transports. Hall was rude enough to whisper 
in my ear " that he thought it indelicate" to expose 
an unmantled bosom to a perpendicular view of a 
large company; " and he muttered something about 
" repulican simplicity," I knew not exactly what. 
But I assured him the fair petitioner was so over- 
come by her solicitude for the overture that she 
thought of nothing else, and was wholly uncon- 
scious that there was a gentleman in the room. As 
to his insinuation about "points of view," I con- 
vinced him by an easy argument that it was wholly 
19 



29O JUDGE LOXGSTREET. 

unfounded; for that this was the very point of 
view in which an exposed neck must always be 
seen, while men continue taller than women; and 
that as the young lady must have been apprised of 
this, she would hardly take so much trouble for 
nothing. But to return. 

Miss Crump was inexorable. She declared that 
she was entirely out of practice. " She scarcely 
ever touched the piano; " "Mamma was always 
scolding her for giving so much of her time to 
French and Italian, and neglecting her music and 
painting; but she told mamma the other day that 
it really was so irksome to her to quit Racine and 
Dante, and go to thrumming upon the piano, that 
but for the obligations of filial obedience, she did 
not think she could ever touch it again." 

Here Mrs. Crump was kind enough, the merest 
accident in the world, to interpose, and to relieve 
the company from further anxiety. "Augusta, my 
dear," said she, " go and play a tune or two; the 
company will excuse your hoarseness." 

Miss Crump rose immediately at her mother's 
bidding, and moved to the piano, accompanied by 
a large group of smiling faces. 

" Poor child !" said Mrs. Crump as she went for- 
ward. "She is frightened to death. I wish Au- 
gusta could overcome her diffidence." 

Miss Crump was educated at Philadelphia; she 
had been taught to sing by Madame Piggisqueaki, 
who was a pupil of Ma'm'selle Crokifroggietta, 
who had sung with Madame Catalan] ; and she had 
taken lessons on the piano from Signor Buzzifussi, 
who had played with Paganini. 



THE SONG. 291 

She seated herself at the piano, rocked to the 
right, then to the left, leaned forward, then back- 
ward, and began. She placed her right hand about 
midway the keys, and her left about two octaves 
below it. She now put off to the right in a brisk 
canter up the treble notes, and the left after it. 
The left then led the way back, and the right pur- 
sued it in like manner. The right turned and re- 
peated its first movement; but the left outran it 
this time, hopped over it, and flung it entirely off 
the track. It came in again, however, behind the 
left on its return, and passed it in the same style. 
They now became highly incensed at each other, 
and met furiously on the middle ground. Here a 
most awful conflict ensued for about the space of 
ten seconds, when the right whipped off all of a 
sudden, as I thought, fairly vanquished. But I was 
in the error against which Jack Randolph cautions 
us: "It had only fallen back to a stronger posi- 
tion." It mounted upon two black keys, and com- 
menced 'the note of a rattlesnake. This had a 
wonderful effect upon the left, and placed the doc- 
trine of "snake charming" beyond dispute. The 
left rushed furiously toward it repeatedly, but 
seemed invariably panic-struck when it came within 
six keys of it, and as invariably retired with a tre- 
mendous roaring down the base keys. It contin- 
ued its assaults sometimes by the way of the nat- 
urals, sometimes by the way of the sharps, and 
sometimes by a zigzag through both ; but all its at- 
tempts to dislodge the right from its stronghold 
proving ineffectual, it came close up to its adver- 
sary and expired. 



292 JUDGE LOXGSTREET. 

Any one, or rather no one, can imagine what 
kind of noises the piano gave forth during the con- 
flict. Certain it is no one can describe them, and, 
therefore, I shall not attempt it. 

The battle ended, Miss Augusta moved as though 
she would have arisen, but this wasprotested against 
by a number of voices at once: "One song, my 
dear Aurelia," said Miss Small; "you must sing 
that sweet little French air you used to sing in 
Philadelphia, and which Madame Piggisqueaki was 
so fond of." 

Miss Augusta looked pitifully at her mamma, and 
her mamma looked "sing" at Miss Augusta, ac- 
cordingly she squared herself for a song. 

She brought her hands to the campus this time in 
fine style; they seemed now to be perfectly recon- 
ciled to each other. They commenced a kind of 
colloquy; the right whispering treble very softly, 
and the left responding base very loudly. The 
conference had been kept up until I began to de- 
sire a change of the subject, when my ear caught, 
indistinctly, some very curious sounds, which ap- 
peared to proceed from the lips of Miss Augusta. 
They seemed to be compounded of a dry cough, a 
grunt, a hiccough, and a whisper; and they were 
introduced, it appeared to me, as interpreters be- 
tween the right and left. Tilings progressed in 
this way for about the space of fifteen seconds, 
when I happened to direct my attention to Mr. 
Jenkins, from Philadelphia. His eves were closed, 
his head rolled gracefully from side to side; a beam 
of heavenly complacency rested upon his counte- 
nance ; ami his w h< >le man gave irresistible demon- 



THE SONG. 293 

stration that Miss Crump's music made him feel 
good all over. I had just turned from the contempla- 
tion of Mr. Jenkins's transports, to see whether I 
could extract from the performance any thing in- 
telligible, when Miss Crump made a fly-catching 
grab at half a dozen keys in a row, and at the same 
instant she fetched a long, dunghill-cock crow, at 
the conclusion of which she grabbed as many keys 
with the left. This came over Jenkins like a warm 
bath, and over me like a rake of bamboo briers. 

My nerves had not recovered from this shock 
before Miss Augusta repeated the movement, and 
accompanied it with a squall of a pinched cat. 
This threw me into an ague fit; but, from respect 
to the performer, I maintained my position. She 
now made a third grasp with the right, boxed the 
faces of six keys in a row with the left, and at the 
same time raised one of the most unearthly howls 
that ever issued from the throat of a human being. 
This seemed the signal for universal uproar and 
destruction. She now threw away all reserve, and 
charged the piano with her whole force. She 
boxed it, she clawed it, she raked it, she scraped 
it. Her neck-vein swelled, her chin flew up, her 
face flushed, her eye glared, her bosom heaved; 
she screamed, she howled, she yelled, cackled, 
and was in the act of dwelling upon the note 
of a screech-owl when I took the St. Vitus's 
dance and rushed out of the room. " Good Lord," 
said a by-stander, "If this be her singing, what 
must her crying be?" As I reached the door I 
heard a voice exclaim: " By heavens ! she's the 
most enchanting performer I ever heard in my 



294 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

life ! " I turned to see who was the author of this 
ill-timed compliment; and who should it be but 
Nick Truck, from Lincoln, who seven years be- 
fore was dancing " 'Possum up the Gum-tree " in 
the chimne)--cojner of his father's kitchen. Nick 
had entered the counting-room of a merchant in 
Charleston some five or six years before ; had been 
sent out as supercargo of a vessel to Bordeaux, 
and while the vessel was delivering one cargo and 
taking in another had contracted a wonderful rel- 
ish for French music. 

As for myself, I went home in convulsions, took 
sixty drops of laudanum and fell asleep. I dreamed 
that I was in a beautiful city, the streets of which 
intersected each other at right angles: that the 

fc> o > 

birds of the air and beasts of the forest had gath- 
ered there for battle, the former led on by a 
Frenchman, the latter by an Italian; that I was 
looking on their movements toward each other, 
when I heard the cry of " Hecate is coming! " I 
turned my eye to the north-east and saw a female 
flying through the air toward the city, and distinct- 
ly recognized in her the features of Miss Crump. 
I took the alarm and was making my escape, 
when she gave command for the beasts and the 
birds to fall on me. They did so, and with all 
the noise of the animal world, were in the act of 
tearing me to pieces, when 1 was waked by the 
stepping of I lull, my room-mate, into bed. " O 
my dear sir," exclaimed 1. "you have waked me 
from a horrible dream. What o'clock is it? " 

"Ten minutes after ij," said he. 

"And where have you been to this late hour? " 






THE SONG. 



295 



" I have just returned from the party." 

"And what kept you so late?" 

" Why, I disliked to retire while Miss Crump 
was playing." 

" In mercy's name," said I, " is she playing 
yet?" 

"Yes," said he; "I had to leave her playing at 
last." 

"And where was Jenkins? " 

" He was there, still in ecstacies, and urging her 
to play on." 

kk And where was Truck? " 

" He was asleep." 

"And what was she playing?" 

"An Italian — " 

Here I swooned and heard no more. 

Baldwin. 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 



Shooting-matches are probably nearly coeval 
with the colonization of Georgia. They are 
still common throughout the Southern States, 
though they are not as common as they were twen- 
ty-five or thirty years ago. Chance led me to one 
about a year ago. I was traveling in one of the 
north-eastern counties when I overtook a swarthy, 
bright-eyed, smirky little fellow riding a small 
pony and bearing on his shoulder a long, heavy 
rifle, which, judging from its looks, I should say 
had done service in Morgan's corps. 

"Good-morning, sir !"said I, reining up my horse 
as I came beside him. 

"How goes it, stranger?" said he, with a tone 
of independence and self-confidence that awakened 
my curiosity to know a little of his character. 

"Going driving?'' inquired I. 

" Not exactly," replied he, surveying my horse 
with a quizzical smile; "I haven't been a-driving 
by myself for a year or two; and my nose has got 
so bad lately I can't carry a cold trail without 
hounds to help inc." 

Alone and without hounds as he was, the ques- 
tion was rather a silly one, but it answered the pur- 
pose for which it was put, which was only to draw 
him into conversation, and I proceeded to make as 
decent a retreat as I could. 
(296) 



THE SHO O TING- MA TCH. 297 

"I didn't know," said I, "but that you were 
going to meet the huntsmen, or going to your 
stand." 

"Ah, sure enough," rejoined he, "that moutbe 
a bee, as the old woman said when she killed a 
wasp. It seems to me I ought to know you." 

" Well, if you ought, why don't you? " 

"What mout your name be? " 

" It might be any thing," said I, with borrowed 
wit, for I knew my man, and knew what kind of 
conversation would please him most. 

" Well, what is it, then? " 

"It is Hall," said I; "but you know it might as 
well have been anything else." 

" Pretty digging! " said he. "I find you're not 
the fool I took you to be; so here's to a better ac- 
quaintance with you." 

"With all my heart," returned I; "but you 
must be as clever as I've been and give me your 
name." 

" To be sure I will, my old coon; take it, take 
it, and welcome. Any thing else about me you'd 
like to have?" 

"No," said I, "there's nothing else about you 
worth having." 

" O yes there is, stranger! Do you see this?" 
holding up his ponderous rifle with an ease that as- 
tonished me. "If you will go with me to the 
shooting-match and see me knock out the bull's- 
eye with her a few times you'll agree the old S 'oaf- 
stick' '5 worth something when Billey Curlew puts 
his shoulder to her." 

This short sentence was replete with information 



298 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

to me. It taught me that my companion was Billy 
Curlew; that he was going to a shooting-match; 
that he called his rifle the Soap-stick, and that he 
was very confident of winning beef with her; or, 
which is nearly but not quite the same thing, driv- 
ing the cross with her. 

"Well," said I, "if the shooting-match is not 
too far out of my way, I'll go to it with pleasure." 

" Unless your way lies through the woods from 
here," said Bill}', " it'll not be much out of your 
way; for it's only a mile ahead of us, and there is 
no other road for you to take till you get there, and 
as that thing you're riding in an't well suited to fast 
traveling among brushy knobs I reckon you won't 
lose much by going by. I reckon you hardly ever 
was at a shooting-match, stranger, from the cut of 
your coat? " 

" O yes," returned I, " many a time. I won 
beef at one when I was hardly old enough to hold 
a shot-gun off-hand." 

"Children don't go to shooting-matches about 
here," said he, with a smile of incredulity. " I 
never heard of but one that did, and he was a little 
sxvinge cat. He was born a-shooting, and killed 
squirrels before he was weaned." 

" Nor did / ever hear of but one," replied 1, 
" and that one was myself." 

"Ami where did you win beef so young, stran- 
ger?" 

"At Berry Adams's." 

" Why stop, stranger, let me look at you goodl 
Is your name Lyman 1 [all ? " 

" The very same," said I. 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 299 

"Well, dang my buttons, if you an't the very 
boy my daddy used to tell me about. I was too 
young to recollect you myself; but I've heard dad- 
dy talk about you many a time. I believe mam- 
my's got a neck-handkerchief now that daddy won 
on your shooting at Collen Reid's store when you 
were hardly knee high. Come along, Lyman, and 
I'll go my death upon you at the shooting-match, 
with the old ' Soap-stick' at your shoulder." 

'''Ah, Billy," said I, "the old ' Soap-stick' will 
do much better at your own shoulder. It was my 
mother s notion that sent me to the shooting-match 
at Berry Adams's, and to tell the honest truth, it 
was altogether a chance shot that made me win 
beef; but that wasn't generally known, and most 
everybody believed that I was carried there on ac- 
count of my skill in shooting; and my fame was 
spread far and wide, I well remember. I remem- 
ber too, perfectly well, your father's bet on me at 
the store. He was at the shooting-match, and 
nothing could make him believe but that I was a 
great shot with a rifle as well as a shot-gun. Bet 
on me he would, in spite of all I could say, though 
I assured him that I had never shot a rifle in my 
life. It so happened, too, that there were but two 
bullets, or rather a bullet and a half; and so con- 
fident was your father in my skill that he made me 
shoot the half-bullet; and strange to tell, by anoth- 
er chance shot, I like to have drove the cross and 
won his bet." 

" Now I know you're the very chap, for I heard 
daddy tell that very thing about the half-bullet. 
Don't say any thing about it, Lyman, and darn my 



300 J UDGE L ONGS TREE T. 

old shoes if I don't tare the lint off the boys with 
you at the shooting-match. They'll never 'spect 
such a looking man as you are of knowing any thing 
about a rifle. I'll risk your chance shots." 

I soon discovered that the father had eaten sour 
grapes, and the son's teeth were on edge ; for Billy 
was just as incorrigibly obstinate in his belief of 
my dexterity with a rifle as his father had been be- 
fore him. 

We soon reached the place appointed for the 
shooting-match. It went bv the name of Sims's 
Cross-roads, because here two roads intersected 
each other, and because from the time that the first 
had been laid out Archibald Sims had resided there. 
Archibald had been a justice of the peace in his 
day (and where is the man of his age in Georgia 
who has not?) ; consequently he was called ' Squire 
Sims. It is the custom in this State when a man 
has once acquired a title, civil or military, to force 
it upon him as long as he lives; hence the count- 
less number of titled personages who are intro- 
duced in these sketches. 

We stopped at the 'Squire's door. Billy hastily 
dismounted, gave me the shake of the hand which 
he had been reluctantly reserving for a mile back, 
and leading me up to the 'Squire thus introduced 
me: "Uncle Archv, this is Lyman Hall, and for 
all you see him in these fine clothes he's a swinge 
cat, a darn sight cleverer fellow than he looks to 
be. Wait till you see him lift the old ' Snap- 
stick' and draw a bead upon the bull's-eye. You 
gwine to sec fun here to-day. Don't say nothing 
about it." 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 30 1 

" Well, Mr. Swinge Cat," said the 'Squire, 
" here's to a better acquaintance with you," offer- 
ing me his hand. 

" How goes it, Uncle Archy? " said I, taking his 
hand warmly (for I am always free and easy with 
those who are so with me, and in this course I 
rarely fail to please). " How's the old woman? " 

" Egad," said the 'Squire, chuckling, " there 
you're too hard for me ; for she died two and twen- 
ty years ago, and I haven't heard a word from her 
since." 

" What! and you never married again? " 

" Never, as God's my judge ! " (a solemn assev- 
eration, truly, upon so light a subject). 

" Well, that's not my fault." 

" No, nor it's not mine nither," said the 'Squire. 

Here we were interrupted by the cry of another 
Ransy Sniffle. "Hello, here ! All you as wish to 
put in for the shoot'n'-match, come on here! for 
the putt'n' in's riddy to begin." 

About sixty persons, including mere spectators, 
had collected, the most of whom were more or less 
obedient to the call of Mealy Whitecotton, for that 
was the name of the self-constituted commander in 
chief. Some hastened and some loitered, as they 
desired to be first or last on the list, for they shoot 
in the order in whfch their names are entered. 

The beef was not present, nor is it ever upon 
such occasions; but several of the company had 
seen it who all concurred in the opinion that it was 
a good beef and well worth the price that was set 
upon it — eleven dollars. A general inquiry ran 
round in order to form some opinion as to the num- 



302 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

ber of shots that would be taken, for of course the 
price of a shot is cheapened in proportion to the 
increase of that number. It was soon ascertained 
that not more than twenty persons would take 
chances, but these twenty agreed to take the num- 
ber of shots at twenty-five cents each. 

The competitors now began to give in their names, 
some for one, some for two, three, and a few for 
as many as four shots. 

Billy Curlew hung back to the last, and when 
the list was offered him five shots remained undis- 
posed of. 

" How many shots left? " inquired Billy. 

" Five," was the reply. 

"Weil, I'll take 'em all. Put down four shots 
to me and one to Lyman Hall, paid for by William 
Curlew . " 

I was thunder-struck; not at his proposition to 
pay for my shot, because I knew that Billy meant 
it as a token of friendship, and he would have been 
hurt if I had refused to let him do me this favor, 
but at the unexpected announcement of my name 
as a competitor for beef at least one hundred miles 
from the place of my residence. I was prepared 
for a challenge from Billv to some of his neighbors 
for ^-private match upon me, but not lor this. 

I therefore protested against" his putting in for 
me, and urged every reason to dissuade him from 
it that I could without wounding his feelings. 

" Put it down! " said Billy, with the authority of 
an emperor, and with a look that spoke volumes 
intelligible to every by-stander. " Reckon 1 don't 
know what I'm about? " Then wheeling off, and 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 303 

muttering in an under, self-confident tone, " Dang 
old Roper," continued he, " if he don't knock that 
cross to the north corner of creation and back again 
before a cat can lick her foot." 

Had I been king -of the cat tribe they could not 
have regarded me with more curious attention than 
did the whole company from this moment. Every 
inch of me was examined with the nicest scrutiny, 
and some plainly showed by their looks that they 
never would have taken me for such a bite. I saw 
no alternative but to throw myself upon a third 
chance shot ; for though by the rules of the sport I 
would have been allowed to shoot by proxy, by all 
the rules of good breeding I was bound to shoot in 
person. It would have been unpardonable to dis- 
appoint the expectations which had been raised on 
me. Unfortunately, too, for me, the match dif- 
fered in one respect from those which I had been 
in the habit of attending in my younger days. In 
olden time the contest was carried on chiefly with 
shot-guns, a generic term which, in those days, 
embraced three descriptions of fire-arms: Indian- 
traders -(a long, cheap, but sometimes excellent 
kind of gun, that Mother Britain used to send 
hither for traffic with the Indians ), the large musket, 
and the shot-gun, properly so called. Rifles were, 
however, always permitted to compete with them 
under equitable restrictions. These were, that 
they should be fired off-hand, while the shot-guns 
were allowed a rest, the distance being equal ; or 
that the distance should be one hundred yards for 
a rifle to sixty for a shot-gun, the mode of firing 
being equal. But this was a match of rifles exclu- 



304 JUDGE LONGSTRBBT. 

sively, and these are by far the most common at this 
time. Most of the competitors fire at the same target, 
which is usually a board from nine inches to a loot 
wide, charred on one side as black as it can be 
made with lire without impairing materially the 
uniformity of its surface, on the darkened side of 
which is pegged a square piece of white paper, 
which is larger or smaller according to the distance 
at which it is to be placed from the marksmen. 
This is almost invariably sixty yards, and for it the 
paper is reduced to about two and a half inches 
square. Out of the center of it is cut a rhombus 
of about the width of an inch, measured diagonal- 
ly; this is the bull's-eye, or diamond, as the marks- 
men choose to call it: in the center of this is the 
cross. But every man is permitted to fix his tar- 
get to his own taste, and accordingly some remove 
one fourth of the paper, cutting from the center of 
the square to the two lower corners so as to leave 
a large angle opening from the center downward, 
while others reduce the angle more or less; but it 
is rarely the case that all are nut satisfied with one 
of these figures. 

The beef is divided into live prizes or, as they 
are commonly termed, live quarters. — the hide and 
tallow counting as one. For several years alter the 
Revolutionary War a sixth was added — the lead 
which was shot in the match. This was the prize 
of the sixth best shot, and it used to be carefully 
extracted from the board or tree in which it was 
lodged and afterward remolded. But this grew 
out of the exigency of the times, and has, 1 believe, 
been long since abandoned everywhere. 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 305 

The three master-shots and rivals were Moses 
Firmby, Larkin Spivey, and Billy Curlew, to 
whom was added upon this occasion, by common 
consent and with awful forebodings, your humble 
servant. 

The target was fixed at an elevation of about 
three feet from the ground, and the judges (Capt. 
Turner and 'Squire Porter) took their stands by it, 
joined by about half the spectators. 

The first name on the catalogue was Mealy 
Whitecotton. Mealy stepped out, rifle in hand, 
and toed the mark. His rifle was about three 
inches longer than himself, and near enough his 
own thickness to make the remark of Darby Chis- 
lom, as he stepped out, tolerably appropriate: 
" Here comes the cornstock and*the sucker! " said 
Darby. 

" Kiss my foot! " said Mealy. "The way I'll 
creep into that bull's-eye's a fact." 

" You'd better creep into your hind sight." 

Mealy raised and fired. 

"A pretty good shot, Mealy! " said one. 

" Yes, a blamed good shot!" said a second. 

" Well done, Meal! " said a third. 

I was rejoiced when one of the company in- 
quired, "Where is it?" for I could hardly believe 
they were founding these remarks upon the evi- 
dence of their senses. 

" Just on the right-hand side of the bull's-eye," 
was the reply. 

I looked with all the power of my eyes but was 
unable to discover the least change in the surface 
of the paper. Their report, however, was true; 
20 



306 J UD GE L OXGS TREE T. 

so much keener is the vision of a practiced than an 
unpracticed eye. 

The next in order was Hiram Baugh. Hiram 
was like some race-horses which I have seen ; he 
was too good not to contend for every prize, and 
too good for nothing ever to win one. 

" Gentlemen," said he, as he came to the mark, 
"I don't say that I'll win beef, but if my piece 
don't blow I'll eat the paper, or be mighty apt to 
do it, if you'll b'lieve my racket. Mv powder are 
not good powder, gentlemen ; I bought it thum 
[from] Zeb Daggett, and gin him three-quarters of 
a dollar a pound for it; but it are not what I call 
good powder, gentlemen; but if old ' Buck-killer' 
burns it clear, the boy you call Hiram Baugh eats 
paper or comes mighty near it." 

" Well, blaze away," said Mealy," and be blamed 
to you and Zeb Daggett and your powder and 
' Buck-killer ' and your powder-horn and shot- 
pouch to boot ! How long you gwine stand thai- 
talking 'fore you shoot?" 

" Never mind," said Hiram, " I can talk a little 
and shoot a little too; butthat's nothin'. Here goes." 

Hiram assumed the figure of a note of interro- 
gation, took a long sight, and fired. 

"I've eat paper," said he, at the crack of the 
gun, without looking, or seeming to look, toward 
the target. "'Buck-killer" made a clear racket. 
Where am 1, gentlemen?" 

" You're just between Mealy and the diamond," 
was the reply. 

" I said I'd eat paper ami I've done it, haven't I, 
gentlemen?" 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 307 

"And s'pose you have ! " said Mealy, "what do 
that 'mount to? You'll not win beef, and never did." 

"Be that as it mout be, I've beat Meal 'Cotton 
mighty easy, and the boy you call Hiram Baugh 
are able to do it." 

"And what do that 'mount to? Who the devil 
an't able to beat Meal 'Cotton? I don't make no 
pretense of bein' nothin' great, no how; but you 
always makes out as if you were gwine to keep 'em 
makin' crosses for you constant, and then do noth- 
in' but eat paper at last; and that's a long way 
from eathi' beef 'cordin' to Meal 'Cotton's notions, 
as you call him." 

Simon Stow was now called on. 

" O Lord ! " exclaimed two or three ; " now we 
have it. It'll take him as long to shoot as it would 
take 'Squire Dobbins to run round a track o' land." 

" Good-by, boys," said Bob Martin. 

" Where are you going, Bob? " 

" Going to gather in my crop ; I'll be back ag'in . 
though by the time Sime Stow shoots." 

Simon was used to all this, and therefore it did 
not disconcert him in the least. He went off and 
brought his own target and set it up with his own 
hand. He then wiped out his rifle, rubbed the pan 
with his hat, drew a piece of tow through the touch- 
hole with his wiper, filled his charger with great 
care, poured the powder into the rifle with equal 
caution, shoved in with his finger the two or three 
vagrant grains that lodged round the mouth of his 
piece, took out a handful of bullets, looked them all 
over carefully, selected one without flaw or wrin- 
kle, drew out his patching, found the most even 



308 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

part of it, sprung open the grease-box in the breech 
of his rifle, took up just so much grease, distributed 
it with great equality over the chosen part of his 
patching, laid it over the muzzle of his rifle, grease- 
side down, placed his ball upon it, pressed it a lit- 
tle, then took it up and turned the neck a little 
more perpendicularly downward, placed his knife- 
handle on it, just buried it in the mouth of the rifle, 
cut off the redundant patching just above the bul- 
let, looked at it, and shook his head in token that 
he had cut off too much or too little, no one knew 
which, sent down the ball, measured the contents 
of his gun with his first and second fingers on the 
protruding part of the ramrod, shook his head again 
to signify there was too much or too little powder, 
primed carefully, placed an arched piece of tin 
over the hind sight to shade it, took his place, got 
a friend to hold his hat over the fore sight to shade 
it, took a very long sight, rired, and didn't even 
eat the paper. 

"My piece was badly load'ned," said Simon, 
when he learned the place of his ball. 

"O you didn't take time," said Mealy. "No 
man can shoot that's in such a hurry as vou is. 
I'd hardly got to sleep 'fore I heard the crack o' 
the gun."' 

The next was Moses Firmby. He was a 
tall, slim man, of rather sallow complexions ami it 
is a singular fact that though probably no 
part of the world is more healthv than the mount- 
ainous parts of Georgia, the mountaineers have not 
generally robust frames or tine complexions. They 
are, however, almost inexhaustible by toil. 



THB SHOOTING-MATCH. 309 

Moses kept us not long in suspense. His rifle 
was already charged, and he fixed it upon the tar- 
get with a steadiness of aim that was astonishing 
to me and alarming to all the rest. A few seconds, 
and the report of his rifle broke the death-like si- 
lence which prevailed. 

" No great harm done yet," said Spivey, mani- 
festly relieved from anxiety by an event which 
seemed to me better calculated to produce despair. 
Firmby's ball had cut out the lower angle of the 
diamond, directly on a right line with the cross. 

Three or four followed him without bettering 
his shot; all of whom, however, with one excep- 
tion, " eat the paper." 

It now came to Spivey' s turn. There was noth- 
ing remarkable in his person or manner. He took 
his place, lowered his rifle slowly from a perpen- 
dicular until it came on a line with the mark, held 
it there like a vise for a moment, and fired. 

" Pretty sevigrous, but nothing killing yet," said 
Billy Curlew, as he learned the place of Spivey's 
ball. 

Spivey's ball had just broken the upper angle of 
the diamond, beating Firmby about half its width. 

A few more shots, in which there was noth- 
ing remarkable, brought us to Billy Curlew. Billy 
stepped out with much confidence, and brought 
the ' ' Soap-stick " to an order, while he deliberately 
rolled up his shirt sleeves. Had I judged of Billy's 
chance of success from the looks of his gun, I 
should have said it was hopeless. The stock of 
" Soap-stick" seemed to have been made , with a 
case-knife; and had it been, the tool would have 



310 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

been but a poor apology for its clumsy appearance. 
An auger-hole in the breech served for a grease- 
box ; a cotton string assisted a single screw in 
holding on the lock; and the thimbles were made, 
one of brass, one of iron, and one of tin. 

"Where's Lark Spivey's bullet?" called out 
Billy to the judges, as he finished rolling up his 
sleeves. 

"About three-quarters of an inch from the cross," 
was the reply. 

"Well, clear the way! the ' Soap-stick's ' com- 
ing, and she'll be along in there among 'em pres- 
ently." 

Billy now planted himself astraddle, like an in- 
verted V; shot forward his left hip, drew his body 
back to an angle of about forty-five degrees with 
the plane of the horizon, brought his cheek down 
close to the breech of old " Soap-stick/' and fixed 
her upon the mark with untrembling hand. I lis 
sight was long, and the swelling muscles of his left 
arm led me to believe that he was lessening his 
chance of success with every half-second that he 
kept it burdened with his ponderous rifle ; but it 
neither flagged nor wavered until " Soap-stick " 
made her report. 

"Where am 1?" said Billy, as the smoke rose 
from before his eye. 

"You've jist touched the cross on the lower 
side," was the reply of one of the judges. 

•' I was afraid I was drawing my bead a Icctlc 
too fine," said Billy. "Now, Lyman, you see 
what the ' Soap-stick * can do. Take her, and 
show the boys how \<n\ used to do when vou 
was a baby." 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 311 

I begged to reserve my shot to the last; plead- 
ing, rather sophistically, that it was, in point of 
fact, one of Billy's shots. My plea was rather in- 
dulged than sustained, and the marksmen who had 
taken more than one shot commenced the second 
round. < This round was a manifest improvement 
upon the first. The cross was driven three times: 
once by Spivey, once by Firmby, and once by no 
less a personage than Mealy Whitecotton, whom 
chance seemed to favor for this time, merely that 
he might retaliate upon Hiram Baugh; and the 
bull's-eye was disfigured out of all shape. 

The third and fourth rounds were shot. Billy 
discharged his last shot, which left the rights of 
parties thus: Billy Curlew first and fourth choice, 
Spivey second, Firmby third, and Whitecotton 
fifth. Some of my readers may perhaps be curious 
to learn how a distinction comes to be made be- 
tween several, all of whom drive the cross. The 
distinction is perfectly natural and equitable. 
Threads are stretched from the uneffaced parts of 
the once intersecting lines, by means of which the 
original position of the cross is precisely ascer- 
tained. Each bullet-hole being nicely pegged up 
as it is made, it is easy to ascertain its circumfer- 
ence. To this I believe they usually, if not inva- 
riably measure, where none of the balls touch the 
cross; but if the cross be driven, they measure 
from it to the center of the bullet-hole. To make 
a draw-shot, therefore, between two who drive 
the cross, it is necessary that the center of 
both balls should pass directly through the cross, 
a thing that very rarely happens. 



312 JUDGE LONGSTREBT. 

The Bite alone remained to shoot. Billy wiped 
out his rifle carefully, loaded her to the top of his 
skill, and handed her to me. " Now," said he, 
"Lyman, draw a fine bead, but not too fine; for 
' Soap-stick ' bears up her ball well. Take care 
and don't touch the trigger until you've got your 
bead; for she's spring-triggered and goes mighty 
easy; but you hold her to the place you want her, 
and if she don't go there, dang old Roper." 

I took hold of " Soap-stick," and lapsed immedi- 
ately into the most hopeless despair. I am sure 
I never handled as heavy a gun in all my life. 
"Why, Billy," said I, " you little mortal, you! 
what do you use such a gun as this for? " 

"Look at the bull's-eye yonder," said he. 

"True," said I, "but /can't shoot her; it is 
impossible." 

" Go 'long, you old coon ! " said Billy, " I see 
what you're at; " intimating that all this was mere 
ly to make the coming shot the more remarkable ; 
" Daddy's little boy don't shoot any thing but the 
old ' Soap-stick' here to-day, I know." 

The judges, I knew, were becoming impatient, 
and, withal, my situation was growing more em- 
barrassing every second; so I e'en resolved to try 
the " Soap-stick" without further parley. 

I stepped out, and the most intense interest was 
excited all around me, and it flashed like electrici- 
ty around the target, as I judged from the anxious 
gaze of all in that direction. 

Policy dictated that I should fire with a tailing 
rifle, and I adopted this mode, determining to fire 
as soon as the sights came on a line with the dia- 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 313 

mond, bead or no bead. Accordingly, I com- 
menced lowering old ' ' Soap -stick ; ' ' but, in spite of 
all my muscular powers, she was strictly obedient 
to the laws of gravitation, and came down with a 
uniformly accelerated velocity. Before I could 
arrest her downward flight, she had not only 
passed the target, but was making rapid encroach- 
ments on my own toes. 

"Why, he's the weakest man in the arms I ever 
seed," said one, in a half whisper. 

"It's only his fun," said Billy; "I know him." 

" It may be fun," said the other, " but it looks 
mightily like yearnest to a man up a tree. 

I now, of course, determined to reverse the mode 
of firing, and put forth all my physical energies to 
raise "Soap-stick" to the mark. The effort si- 
lenced Billy, and gave tongue to all his companions. 
I had just strength enough to master "Soap-stick's" 
obstinate proclivity, and, consequently, my nerves 
began to exhibit palpable signs of distress with her 
first imperceptible movement upward. A trem- 
bling commenced in my arms; increased, and ex- 
tended rapidly to my body and lower extremities ; 
so that, by the time I had brought " Soap-stick " up 
to the mark, I was shaking from head to foot, exact- 
ly like a man under the continued action of a 
strong galvanic battery. In the meantime my 
friends gave vent to their feelings freely. 

"I swear point blank," said one, "that man 
can't shoot." 

"He used to shoot well," said another; " but 
can't now, nor never could." 

" You better git away from 'bout that mark! " 



314 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

bawled a third, "for I'll be dod darned if Broad- 
cloth don't give some of you the dry gripes if you 
stand too close thare." 

"The stranger's got the -pet 'dod 'dies,"* said a 
fourth, with humorous gravity. 

" If he had bullets enough in his gun, he'd shoot 
a ring round the bull's-eye big as a spinning- 
wheel," said a fifth. 

As soon as I found that" Soap-stick " was high 
enough (for I made no further use of the sights 
than to ascertain this fact), I pulled trigger, and 
off she went. I have always found that the most 
creditable way of relieving myself of derision was 
to heighten it myself as much as possible. It is a 
good plan in all circles, but by far the best which 
can be adopted among the plain, rough farmers of 
the country. Accordingly, I brought old " Soap- 
stick " to an order with an air of triumph ; tipped 
Billy a wink, and observed, "Now. Billy's your 
time to make your fortune. Bet 'em two to one 
that I've knocked out the cross." 

"No, I'll be dod blamed if I do," said Billy, 
"but I'll bet you two to one you ha* n't hit the 
plank." 

"Ah, Billy,'' said I, " I was joking about bet- 
ting, for I never bet, nor would I have you t<> bet : 
indeed, 1 do not feel exactly right in shooting for 



♦ This word is entirely new to me; but. like most, if not all, 
words in use among tin- common people, it i- doubtless a legit- 
imate English word, or, rather, .1 compound of t\\>> word-, the 
last a little corrupted, ami was ven aptly applied in this in- 
stance. It is a compound of " p with one eye, and 
"doddl or wabble. 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 



315 



beef, for it is a species of gaming at last. But 
I'll say this much: if that cross isn't knocked out, 
I'll never shoot for beef again as long as I live." 

"By dod," said Mealy Whitecotton, "you'll 
lose no great things at that." 

" Well," said I, " I reckon I know a little about 
wabbling. Is it possible, Billy, a man who shoots 
as well as you do, never practiced shooting with 
the double wabble? It's the greatest take in in the 
world when you learn to drive the cross with it. 
Another sort for getting bets upon, to the drop- 
sight with a single wabble I And the ' Soap- 
stick's ' the very yarn for it." 

" Tell you what, stranger," said one, " you're too 
hard for us all here. We never hearn o' that sort 
o' shoot'n" in these parts." 

" Well," said I, " you've seen it now, and I'm 
the boy that can do it." 

The judges were now approaching with the tar- 
get, and a singular combination of circumstances 
had kept all my party inutter ignorance of the result 
of my shot. Those about the target had been 
prepared by Billy Curlew for a great shot from 
me ; their expectations had received assurance 
from the courtesy which had been extended to me ; 
and nothing had happened to disappoint them but 
the single caution to them against the "dry gripes," 
which was as likely to have been given in earnest 
as in irony; for my agonies under the weight of 
" Soap-stick " were either imperceptible to them at 
the distance of sixty yards, or, being visible, were 
taken as the flourishes of an expert who wished to 
" astonish the natives." The other party did not 



316 JUDGE LONGSTREET. 

think the direction of my ball worth the trouble of 
a question; or if they did, my airs and harangue 
had put the thought to flight before it was delivered. 
Consequently they were all transfixed with aston- 
ishment when the judges presented the target to 
them, and gravely observed, -'It's only second 
best, after all the fuss.*' 

"Second best!" exclaimed I, with uncontrol- 
lable transports. 

The whole of my party rushed to the target to 
have the evidence of their senses before they would 
believe the report ; but most marvelous fortune de- 
creed that it should be true. Their incredulity and 
astonishment were most fortunate forme; forthey 
blinded my hearers to the real feelings with which 
the exclamation was uttered, and allowed me suf- 
ficient time to prepare myself for making the best 
use of what I had said before with a very different 
object. 

" Second best ! " reiterated I, with an air of de- 
spondency, as the company turned from the target 
to me. "Second best only! Mere, Billy, my 
son, take the old 'Soap-stick;' she's a good 
piece, but I'm getting too old and dim-sighted to 
shoot a rifle, especiallv with the drop-sight and 
double wabbles.'* 

" Why, good Lord amighty! " said Billy, with 
a look that bailies description, " an't you driv the 
cross? " 

"O driv the cross! " rejoined I. carelessly. 
" What's that? Jusl look where my ball is I I do 
believe in my soul its center is a full quarter oi an 
inch from the cross. I wanted to lav the center 



THE SHOOTING-MATCH. 



317 



of the bullet upon the cross, just as if you'd put it 
there with your fingers." 

Several received this palaver with a contemptuous 
but very appropriate curl of the nose ; and Mealy 
Whitecotton offered to bet a half -pint "that I 
couldn't do the like again with no sort of wabbles, 
he didn't care what." But I had already fortified 
myself on this quarter by my morality. A decided 
majority, however, were clearly of opinion that I 
was serious ; and they regarded me as one of the 
wonders of the world. Billy increased the major- 
ity by now coming out fully with my history, as he 
had received it from his father; to which I listened 
with quite as much astonishment as any other one 
of his hearers. He begged me to go home with 
him for the night, or, as he expressed it, "to go 
home with him and swap lies that night, and it 
shouldn't cost me a cent; " the true reading of 
which is, that if I would go home with him, and 
give him the pleasure of an evening's chat about 
old times, his house should be as free to me as 
my own. But I could not accept his hospitality 
without retracing five or six miles of the road 
which I had already passed, and therefore I de- 
clined it. 

" Well, if you won't go, what must I tell the old 
woman for you? for she'll be mighty glad to hear 
from the bov that won the silk hankerchief for her, 
and I expect she'll lick me for not bringing you 
home with me." 

" Tell her," said I, " that I send her a quarter 
of beef, which I won, as I did the handkerchief, 
by nothing in the world but mere good luck." 



318 JUDGE LONGSTRBET. 

" Hold your jaw, Lyman," said Bill}-; "I an't 
a gwine to tell the old woman any such lies; for 
she's a rael reg'lar built Methodist." 

As I turned to depart, " Stop a minute, stranger," 
said one ; then lowering his voice to a confidential 
but distinctly audible tone, " What you offering 
for? " continued he. I assured him I was not a 
candidate for any thing; that I had accidentally 
fallen in with Billy Curlew, who begged me to 
come with him to the shooting-match, and, as it 
lay right on my road, I had stopped. "O," said 
he with a conciliatory nod, " if you're up for any 
thing, you needn't be mealy-mouthed about it 'fore 
us boys; for we'll all go in for you here up to 
the handle." 

" Yes," said Billy, " dang old Roper if we don't 
go our death for you, no matter who offers. If 
ever you come out for any thing, Lyman, jist let 
the boys of Upper Ilogthief know it. and they'll 
go for you to the hilt, against creation, tit or no tit, 
that's the tatur." 

I thanked them kindly, but repeated my assur- 
ances. The reader will not suppose that the dis- 
trict took its name from the character of the inhab- 
itants. In almost every county in the State there 
is some spot or district which bears a contemptuous 
appellation, usually derived from local rivalships 
or from a single accidental circumstance. 

Hall. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

«i 111 inn mi! 1 1111 mi 

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